kengr

Woodrow Wilson Smith born, 1912-11-11

The other day, something reminded me of a factoid I'd heard about rabbits being able to "resorb" embryos if conditions were bad. And I'd seen some comment about abortion not long after. And it occured to me to wonder how human cultures and societies would be different if humans had this ability.

Yes, the abortion debate wouldn't exist. But go farther.

Cultures that mistreated women would tend to die out. Yes, they could raid to get children, but your neighbors get upset at that sort of thing.

Slavery would still have existed, but unless at least the women weren't treated too badly, generational slavery would be different. And if the ability had any conscious control, it's likely few women would choose to have children in slavery. That'd mess up a lot of history, especially in America.

I recently came across a pair of *very* anachronistic Zorro movies. both are on youtube.

The first, which I haven't watched yet is Zorro and the 3 Musketeers (1963). I looked at the beginning, and it explicitly states that it's in the 1600s.

The second is a Republic serial Zorro's Black Whip (1941). It's set in the late 1800s (main plot is about peopling trying to keep Idaho from becoming a state). Technically it's not a Zorro movie. But they have the outfit and use a whip a lot.

It also has a few other not quite anachronisms. Such as there being a few telephones (the really old wall mount sort with cranks). After a bit I realized that there seemed to be only two. One at the newspaper office and the other at the ranch of the newspaper publisher. Though there's a bit near the end when the bad guys are using them, and it doesn't quite seem right for the plot.

But with only two phones that *does* explain why there isn't an operator. But it doesn't explain why nobody ever tries to cut the phone wires!

Given that Zorro lived in Spanish California in the late 1700s/early 1800s you might be able to explain the outfit as having been passed along to a new family.

This doesn't help at all with the 3 Musketeers one though. well over a century too early.

Ah well, it's all fictional.

March 17, 1998 6:15 pm PST
The Change occurs. Nanutucket Island sent back to 1250 BC
The rest of the world experiences a massive change in natural laws.

(Yes, this is an "Alien Space Bats" situation and required a high level of magic/tech to keep from killing everything on Earth or Destroying the planet)

Got a variant on an idea I had in the past.

Both Luna and Mars are capable of retaining an atmosphere and hydrosphere for significant periods of time if they were somehow given them.

For Luna it's hundreds to thousands of years. For Mars it'd be *much* long, both because of the higher gravity and being farther from the sun.

Lot's of authors have written about terraforming Mars. I can think of only one who tried it with Luna.

But my new thought was what if Someone (aliens?) did it in the distant past and set up some maintenance methods.

So both Mars and Luna are habitable and have been stocked with terran life forms (including humans)

This wouldn't be obvious to folks on earth until at 1600s or later. Without telescopes, you might notice some clouds and the like on Luna, but that'd be about it.

Mars would likely take until the 1800s or so.

I'm assuming that Luna doesn't have tech beyond Medieval if that. Mars might be more advanced. But no radio at least.

Given all this, History would be mostly the same until recently.

I'm wondering what things you folks think would change in that universe. The big cvhanges would be in the last 100-150 years.

I'm also interested in folks take on how civilizations might develop on Luna and Mars.

ps. I have vague memories of some site that would display maps of Mars and Luna with oceans of various depths. If anybody knows what they are, I'd be grateful for the info.

March 17, 1998 6:15 pm PST
The Change occurs. Nanutucket Island sent back to 1250 BC
The rest of the world experiences a massive change in natural laws.

Dies the Fire Series by S. M. Stirling

We lost the Moon when it was blasted out of orbit.

We may never know what happened to the folks on Moonbase Alpha.

Woodrow Wilson Smith is now 105 years old.

Twenty years ago today, the Jupiter II was launched towards alpha Centauri. Shortly after launch it went off course and encountered a meteor storm. It's fate after that is still unknown.

Lost were pilot Major Don Weest, Dr John Robinson, his wife Dr. Maureen Robinson, their children Judy, Penny and Will.

Speculation as to the cause of the course deviation had led to several theories. One that seems most probable in light of certain records recovered by scholars after the fall of several European governments suggest that the most likely is that Dr. Zachary Smith, now known to have been an enemy agent had been trying to sabotage the ship and had somehow remained aboard when it launched.

This is based on a nightmare or possibly nightmares I had 20 years ago,

For the younger readers, at that time the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) had gotten a ballot measure passed overturning an executive order by the state's governor that had forbidden discrimination based on sexual orientation by state agencies.

Emboldened by that success, they had put another measure on the ballot. This one forbade the state, or lower levels of government from "recognizing" homosexuals, sadomasochists and witches. With language that said that recognizing included issuing any sort of license or permit.

And there may have been something about schools saying anything "positive" (essentially, worded such that the only allowable mentions would have to be negative). Or that may have been part of the one they tried the next election.

Supposedly the bit about licenses and permits was supposed to keep them from becoming "professionals". You know, doctors, lawyers etc. But as some folks pointed out, the actual wording allowed a lot more.

Campaigning on both sides got rather heated. And then there was a firebombing of a house that a number of folks in the state capitol who were important in the campaign against Measure 9. It latter turned out to be totally unrelated to the campaign (idiots got the wrong house!). But at the time it really ratcheted up the fear.

Now consider that at the time I was on the Board of a local BDSM group and before the ballot measure went public we'd done some publicity that included photos of all the board members. And while not strictly gay, I was definitely bi.

So against that background...
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