Rome Graffiti
Britain Pardons Over 60,000 Men for Sex Crimes
Sexual Offenses Act of 1967 (Wales and England)
Criminal Justice Act 1980 (Scotland)
Homosexual Offences Order 1982 (Northern Ireland)
These laws made sex between two men aged 21 years or older legal. It wasn't until the passage of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 where the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual people became 16.
To get back to the present, a new law has passed that pardons over 59,000 dead men of these types of crimes. In a twist, the approximately 16,000 men still alive have to file paperwork to obtain their pardons. It feels like the law almost makes the situation right, but fails in the end. Dead men aren't effected by their convictions anymore, so the pardons feel hollow and falsely symbolic. But those among the living need the pardons, yet these men need to jump through more hoops to clear their names.
First Look at the Nintendo SwitchOMG! I'm really excited about this! Admittedly, I'm not a huge console player, especially since I have an awesome PC for gaming. But this looks like fun. :-)
Welcome to Asgardia!
Get 100,000 registered citizens
Form a working government
Get a livable satellite into a low orbit
Get recognition from other countries
These goals reflect the larger goal of gaining recognition from the United Nations as a sovereign nation. So far, almost 500,000 people have signed up to be citizens of Asgardia; and work is progressing on building and launching a satellite, with a tentative launch date in 2017.
The idea behind Asgardia of living in a man-made platform might sound like science fiction, but current technological advances have made outer space a viable living space. The International Space Station provides an excellent example of how this can work. Plus various organizations have been researching how limited human contact effect people's mental and emotional health. As for food, a variety of plants have already been grown in outer space:
Arabidopsis (Thale cress)
Mizuna lettuce
Super dwarf wheat
Apogey wheat
Brassica rapa
Rice
Tulips
Kalanchoe
Flax
Onions
Peas
Radishes
Garlic
Cucumbers
Dill
Parsley
Cinnamon basil
Overall, I think that Asgardia might be more than one man's dream; this new space nation has the potential to not only bring humans into outer space, but to act as a neutral party in the politics that will inevitably follow mankind wherever it goes.
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