The Humanist 1000 Summers
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| Ajit and Ravi compared notes after the visit of Dr. Yamanaka had concluded, with special regard to the meeting between him and Mohan Singh, their long-term sysop on the busy HU space forum. Yamanaka had not said much after that meeting, one way or another, but did ask if Singh was an expert in space sciences, or a member of the Indian military, and they had replied that he was both; that was his appeal to many in the forums discussing the future of humanity. He was soon to be a forum leader in the HU’s project to communally rewrite ‘1000 Summers” and that project now began to assume a life of its own.
Together they reviewed Singh's messages over the past two years that he had been with them, wherein he had stated that he was a propulsion scientist for the Indian air force; his particular specialty seemed to be nuclear rocketry, although almost all of his comments were around the Russian development of a nuclear lift rocket in 2015. He’d made some perfunctory observations on the plausibility of British and Chinese ‘emdrive’ technology, before expressing some doubt as to its validity. They accordingly forwarded his following statement on that development to Yamanaka, who might understand these things: "Seems to depend on the group velocity of a wave, which is a sort of mathematical construct that physicists maintain can have no physical reality for EM waves, because it can easily exceed the speed of light. However if the terms of reference in the cavity are different with respect to the electrical power source versus the microwave radiation - then there could be a small but real resulting force that would be of great value for accelerating or decelerating spacecraft." Ajit Desai and had missed their last board meeting, as he often did, but in the light of a recent eye-opening update on Singh’s assertions to Yamanaka, decided to begin a new forum on humanism.in related to space exploration, as a humanist project. He and Yamanaka decided that the best way to get at the truth of what Singh had recounted was to draw him out, and allow him to administer his own forum on just that subject. Singh readily accepted that invitation with one telling provision - that their discussion would center on Venus. He argued that the requirement for an exoskeleton on Mars to support the human body in the absence of sufficient gravity was a deal breaker there. Further, its thin atmosphere left little to work with, the planet was too far, colder than Earth, and so on. This approach went against conventional thinking around space exploration, because the Chinese already had a lunar landing module on the moon and were thought to be targeting Mars next, while the search for water and life on Mars had continued for decades. There was new excitement about water on the Moon and its uses. Nonetheless, Singh was adamant that those were his terms, so Desai granted them to see where they would lead. As a senior scientist, Singh had a wealth of knowledge around Asian space endeavours over the previous generation or two, in truth largely to do with military satellite technology. This he documented against the canvas of Russian and American achievements in space and then he put forth, ostensibly as his own tribute to Geoffrey Landis, the American scientist who had first proposed it in 2003 as Yamanaka had discovered - the idea of colonizing Venus's atmosphere. It was not entirely a surprise that this topic caught the imagination of the website’s legions of young members. Singh began by sponsoring a contest to design a Venusian airship, with a simple specification including support for at least 20,000 inhabitants and use of the sulphuric acid droplets within the planet's atmosphere as a source of water. The frame would have to be carbon or nanocarbon and the protective film around the city had to be double-walled, easily repaired and modularized, as Landis suggested. Yamanaka's fusion power would drive the transporters and first generation of such airships, eventually being supplemented or replaced by solar energy. The intention was that the proliferation of such ‘airstats’ would progressively block the incoming sunlight and allow the planet to start cooling down, until at last the surface became usable. This competition caught the imagination of schools around the world; and their designs came pouring in. Elegant arks that would have stood Noah proud solar-sailed through the wispy clouds. Because the area of the upper atmosphere fifty km above the planet's surface is three times the area of the surface of the earth, it was calculated that there was plenty of room for everybody out there, and the planned city-vs.-city competitions across America, Japan and Europe for municipal and national entries grew into the hundreds. Like the sailors that left for the south seas 500 years before, the world's young embraced anew this idea of a virgin and tropical paradise, as proof-positive that the species would indeed ‘be together’ in the coming centuries. 66. Road Open The old East End Catholic church still bore many signs of its decades of neglect, but it was Easter time in Vancouver and the street it was on was alight with cherry blossoms, the new grass bursting up through old lawns. Its windows had been repaired, the doors and pews re-varnished, its aisles newly carpeted, the washrooms renovated. It was ready. Above the main entrance steps the stone façade had been carved with a motto: ‘Per aspera ad astra’. The story about the church's re-commissioning in the Vancouver Sun newspaper had brought protests from former air force personnel about the similarity to their motto of ‘Per ardua ad astra’ – and an HU spokesperson had replied that it signified the ‘guns-to-ploughshares’ mission of the church itself - this publicity had helped to augment attendance for the weeknight gatherings hosted by the humanists to date. The sign on the front lawn was entirely new, proclaiming the church's name – ‘The Humanist Assembly’. It was chosen by Tom Leahy after McGlade passed over authority for the building and its constituency prior to its opening; maintaining the agreed arm’s length arrangement with both the Humanist Union and the Catholic Church. Nonetheless, some details of the church’s refurbishing had surfaced on the HU websites, and this had led to the likelihood that the first actual services planned for Easter Sunday and evening would be well attended. McGlade remained on Salt Spring Island that weekend, despite an expectation that he might give the opening address during the church's re-consecration at 10am that morning. Instead it was Tom Leahy, in a dark green cassock who had presided, assisted by two men and a woman previously unknown to McGlade. A local news channel highlighted the opening of the church during its evening edition; with the ‘congregation’ avidly singing the humanist hymn Stand by Me along with a hastily recruited and rather uneven choir. On Tuesday morning McGlade flew to North Vancouver and brought Leahy back to the house for a post-mortem. They sat upstairs in McGlade's study and went over the photos and videos on the HU website, provided by attending members. "Looks like you've still got it, Tommy - a full house and some great reviews. I like the Friar Tuck outfit in green too." he jibed. Leahy shook his head. "That clerical garb was off-white just two days before, we got them back Saturday afternoon and the assisting clergy were thankful that they sort of fit, we have a tailor working on new ones that aren’t tie-died, for next Sunday." McGlade admired the handsome vessels used during the consecration, praised Leahy's language for being devoid of religious referents, but was curious. “...That was a good choice, making it a ‘dedication’ instead of a consecration. Then that part there Tom, why did you affirm - was it three times? ‘I am a humanist!’...” Leahy held up three fingers, the long time teacher clarifying a point with a boy scout salute, no less. “It’s useful to listen for it, say it, hear it like a short mantra. Truth be known, I was worried, because if St. Peter denied Christ three times, I’d better cover,” he smiled. McGlade shook his head, and then pointed out the older woman assisting him during the ceremony. "I thought that your support people would, in the beginning, be made up of Jesuits?" Leahy hesitated with his reply, and looked at McGlade somewhat contritely... "Annie's my partner." McGlade returned to view that sequence again, this reserved and elegant woman moving through the church dedication ceremony, and put his hand on Leahy's arm. "You're a good man, Tom. Bless you and your partner, you're both welcome in my home at any time and I very much look forward to meeting her. I'm sure Alexa will as well - very happy for you both!" He motioned for Leahy to examine a document he had open on his computer. Scrolling back up through Word, he came to the title on the first page. "I’ve started the sequel to ‘1000 Summers’. You knew that - the title here gives you a hint of what it's about and identifies my co-author." Leahy looked at the first few lines and title: CHURCH OF MAN By Thomas M. Leahy and Martin S. McGlade Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2015 2015 -> Police Militarization 2015 -> 2015 ihbb championships: hs history Bowl Round 4 – Prelims First Quarter 2015 -> Wrtp/big step · 3841 W. 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