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The Political Economy
of Very Large Space Projects
Hickman, Ph. D.
Professor of Government
of Government and International Relations
Berry. GA 30149-5010
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTION AND TECHNOLOGY, Volume 4,
November 1999 -
While popular
science writers typically describe the benefits to be derived from their favorite very
large space development project in detail, their treatment of the crucial initial
capitalization of such projects is typically sparse or implausible. Capitalization is a crucial problem for these
projects because the total capital investment required is very large and the investment
takes a very long time before producing economic returns.
Chunky investments are unattractive to most private investors and
lenders. Very large space development
projects are best understood as massive public works projects which are necessary to open
frontiers. Despite the libertarian sentiments
in much of the popular science writing on very large space development projects,
government would likely have to play a large role in capitalizing such projects.
development enthusiasts typically explain the significance of their favorite very large
space projects-whether constructing orbital colonies or cities beneath the surface of the
Moon, terraforming Mars or Venus, or launching interstellar spacecraft-in terms of their
promise to produce vast new wealth, open frontiers to serve as social safety
valves for the ambitious or the dissenting, generate the novel problems that drive
dramatic advances in science and engineering, provide new sources of natural resources,
and permit population dispersal to assure the long term survival of our species. Without question, these are all laudable reasons
for the adventure of space and any very large space project would probably meet several of
these objectives. However, if the economic and social promise of these projects
is so extraordinary, and if the social losses which result from failing to undertake them
are so large, why havent humans embarked on them?
Why arent we even close to beginning one of these great enterprises? Given the assertion made by many space
development enthusiasts that the basic technology needed for their favorite projects
already exists or can be developed from the available science, asking these questions is
entirely fair. The answers must be found in
political economy, some rudimentary understanding of which will be necessary before
realistic planning for any very large space project can begin.
Reading the popular science literature reveals that
remarkably few space development enthusiasts have given the political economy of their
very large space projects serious thought. Instead,
they have chosen to describe the exciting science and engineering possibilities while
promising the moon and stars to those who would dare to exploit them. Performing this public relations role is certainly
crucial if any very large space project is ever to be realized. Both elite and mass public opinion will be to be
inspired if the kind of resources necessary for development are to be mobilized. But something much more fundamental is missing. What needs explaining are the rational motivations
for investors to risk their capital in opening a very distant, completely
uninhabited frontier that is subject to extreme environmental conditions. Why should investors risk the enormous sums
necessary to realize these dreams? Unfortunately,
space development enthusiasts typically respond to this question, not by answering it
directly, but by itemizing the likely economic benefits derived from space after
the capital investments necessary to open the frontier have been made. Space development enthusiasts are also given to
lamenting that annual public and private spending on space development compares
unfavorably with annual consumer spending on beer and pizza, and to discounting the
present value of public and private spending on space against what humanity will gain over
the long term from that spending. Granting
the truth of all of these arguments, the fact remains that the technology and personnel
for very large space projects are less in doubt than is the necessary capital investment. Capital is the essential missing ingredient. The voluntarism evident in so much of the popular
science writing about space development is a liability when it prevents recognition of
this crucial problem.
A number of popular science writers have addressed the
political economy of their proposals for very large space projects. Gerald ONeills visionary classic, The
High Frontier, otherwise so breathtaking in its conception, unfortunately set a
low standard for such discussions (1977: 161-162). ONeills
L5 colonies were to emerge as extensions of the terrestrial economy, capitalized through
borrowing billions from investors on Earth, constructed with materials mined on the moon,
and selling energy and space manufactured goods in the terrestrial economy. Given the experience of underestimating the costs
of constructing the International Space Station, the estimates of the capital needed for
the first L5 colony offered by ONeill in 1976 now seem wildly optimistic. If contemporary large space projects like the
International Space Station are intrinsically difficult to price, then very
large space projects must be even more difficult to price, and that would introduce a risk
which would make them less attractive to private investors (Johnson-Freese and Handberg
James Lovelock and Michael Allaby (1984: 173-174),
writing before the end of the Cold War,
proposed to pay for the terraforming of Mars with a post-Cold War peace dividend,
investments made by a commercial industry anxious to develop new space markets to replace
declining military markets, and sales of abstract rather than actual plots of Martian real
estate to prospective colonists. As a token
to the members of the peace and environmental movements of the 1980s, who appear to have
been their target audiences, Lovelock and Allaby propose that enlightened technocrats
would coordinate the terraforming process to produce a garden world free of pollution and
war. The fate of the actual peace dividend
ought to serve as a caution to anyone expecting to finance their big plans for space using
found money.
Harrison H. Schmitts (1996:2 8-30)
Millennium Project combines mining of Helium-3 on the Moon to be used as fuel
in future fusion reactors and the establishment of an outpost on Mars as
prelude to colonization of the planet. Where
capital for constructing the mining facility on the Moon is to come from is left unstated. But Schmitt does write that the first Mars
missions will cost a mere one percent of the annual gross national product (GNP) of the
United States. Presumably the subsequent
missions to Mars to maintain the outpost would also cost one percent of United States
annual GNP. Just how that one percent is to
be extracted from the economy of the United States and spent on the Mars missions is also
left unstated.
Selling Martian real estate to mining interests serves
as the primary device for financing the colonization of Mars in Robert Zubrin and Richard
Wagners The Case for Mars (1996:
233-239). Recognizing that an
essential element in selling real estate anywhere entails offering good title to
prospective purchasers, they accept the necessity for a government, either that of the
United States or a prospective Martian Republic would serve, to grant and by implication
to enforce property titles. What is less
clear is whether capital earned from those sales would be used to finance construction of
the original human settlement or used for the subsequent terraforming of the planet. Nor is it clear that the sums derived from the
sale of mining rights would be sufficient for either purpose. Potential investors in Martian mining operations
would consider not only production costs but also transportation costs in moving
commodities from production plants on Mars to markets on Earth. The existence of less expensive alternative
sources on Earth would deter rational investors. Moreover,
while mining is an important sector in many national economies, with the interesting
exceptions of several of the Persian Gulf states (oil) and Nauru (guano), few national
economies on Earth are sustained primarily from the sales of mining royalties or mining
rights. A permanent human settlement on Mars
which depended on commerce with Earth for its survival would probably need more than a
mining sector and associated service sector to flourish.
As is true for most treatments of very large space
development projects in popular science writing, Zubrin and Wagner offer a more detailed
description of the subsequent economic activity than of the crucial initial capital
financing of their proposed venture. Their
Mars would be largely peopled by highly skilled immigrants who will have financed their
own transportation from Earth (See Lewis and Lewis 1987: 295-296). In the near term, Zubrin and Wagners Mars
would export deuterium and new ideas to Earth. In
the long term, a triangle trade system would emerge in which Earth exports high tech
manufactured goods to Mars, Mars exports low tech goods to the asteroid belt, and the
asteroid belt exports metals to Earth.
also serves as the primary economic rationale in Donald Cox and James Chestiks
(1996: 138-146, 211-272) proposal to colonize the asteroids. Planetary defense against asteroids and comets
which might strike the Earth, transportation facilities intermediate between Earth and
Mars, research facilities, and tourism and retirement homes all provide additional reasons
for making asteroids the first focus for human expansion into space. Although Cox and Chestik offer little detail about
financing their proposal, this may be excused because the probable incremental nature of
exploiting the asteroids is likely to mean that attracting capital should be comparatively
less difficult than for other very large space development projects. Each asteroid mining venture might be financed
separately and the total capital necessary for mining the asteroids could be raised over
time and in smaller amounts. Robotic mining
of asteroids passing near the Earth might be within the technological and economic reach
of private firms and government space agencies in the next century. Subsequent robotic mining ventures of bodies
farther from the Earth might build on that initial experience. Yet rather than open a new frontier for human
settlement, such incremental economic development via robotic mining might foreclose it. Private investors and government space agencies
might be content to limit space development to those ventures which yield economic returns
in the short term. Given better returns on
investments on Earth and demands for government spending for public services, the
occasional robotic mining ventures on near Earth asteroids might be the most ambitious
space development project ever undertaken. It is difficult to see why such investments would generate other economic activity in space. Part of the problem is that robots might be
too cost-effective.
After several decades of experience with lunar and
planetary exploration, it is reasonable to project that using robots in space will be more
cost effective than using people in space for the same tasks. The relative cost effectiveness of using robots
over humans in space is a function of the accelerating speed of machine computation, now
commonly believed to double every 18 to 24 months, and the lower costs of protecting and
maintaining machinery over living flesh in space.
[1] Robots will grow ever more competent in
performing complex tasks while humans will continue to need lots of expensive protection
in space. Work requiring higher level
decision-making is likely to performed via remote tele-operation by humans on Earth. If mining or other tasks in space can be
undertaken by cost effective robots, why would rational decision makers in private firms
or space agency use cost ineffective humans in space?
The development problem here is that sending robots rather than humans into space
would mean a smaller human workforce in space.
[2] A frontier in space settled
solely or primarily by robots is clearly very far from what most space development
enthusiasts envision. Their intuition is that
the successful development of space requires that large numbers of humans work and live in
space. That intuition is supported by
something we know about pioneers. They
develop economic, political, emotional, and philosophical interests which are different
from the interests of the people in their place of origin.
A new frontier may produce economic opportunities, demands for self-government,
emotional attachment to place, and philosophical belief in the moral value of pioneering
as a way of life. People working and living
in permanent space settlements are likely to develop reasons for capital investment in
space development which have little to do with the profit maximizing decision making of
capital lenders and investors on Earth.
Permanent human settlements in space will need human
populations large enough to attract new members and to keep their existing members. Settlements with populations too small could be
abandoned by their residents with greater ease and greater finality. Settlements with populations too small would
generate fewer internal economic transactions and thus less economic activity. Less economic activity might mean that less wealth
would be accumulated and that the settlement would be more dependent on inputs from Earth. Of course, constructing the infrastructure and
amenities needed to attract and keep a larger population will require large capital
Warren Salomon (1996:243-259) presents a tongue in cheek
but still interesting proposal for the political economy of very large space development
projects in their most daunting form: the prospects for developing interstellar trade
conducted using spacecraft moving at less than the speed of light. While anticipating that governments will finance
the initial voyages to stars with habitable planets, Salomon speculates that subsequent
interstellar voyages will be paying propositions because they would transport goods paid
for with interstellar letters of credit beamed as lasergrams between star
systems as well as investors busy exploiting relativistic time dilation to build wealth
through compound interest on their investments in different solar systems. These investors would be joined on the outward
bound leg of the interstellar journey by the immigrant poor whose fares would be paid by
governments interested in reducing welfare rolls. Proprietary
colonies would provide a possible mechanism for financing the initial colonization of the
destination planets. Three problems with
Solomons proposal are apparent. First,
positing that governments will pay for the initial round of interstellar voyages of
discovery assumes what ought to be explained. Why
should governments on Earth bother to go to the expense of sending people in spacecraft
when sending robotic probes will probably do that job less expensively? Persuading governments to pay for interstellar
robot probes which might take decades or centuries to return data will be an impressive
undertaking by itself. Second, and
crucially, it is improbable that the total value of goods transported across interstellar
distances would ever be sufficient for the kind of lasergram banking that Salomon
proposes. Our current electronic banking
system makes sense only because the money being moved electronically ultimately represents
exchange value-the ability to purchase some tangible commodity. The time and energy expenditure involved in moving
tangible goods between stars would make that improbable.
Autarky rather than interdependence is thus a more reasonable expectation for the
economies of solar systems and that probably
spells doom for proprietary interstellar colonies. Investors
want to be able to move their money where they can spend it or where it will earn the
highest rate of return. Why own part of a
distant proprietary colony from which one can derive no benefit? [3] Third, future advances in biomedical research may
present investors with the means here on earth, suspended animation and longer lives, to
exploit compound interest over long periods of time without the dangers of traveling
between the stars. Means that are either more
humanitarian or less humanitarian, and in either case less expensive, than subsidizing
immigration to the stars are likely to be preferred policies of governments when dealing
with the poor of the next centuries.
Attempting to persuade investors to risk enough capital
to finance the construction of a very large space development project would run up against
the same capitalization problems now faced by entrepreneurs seeking capital for ordinary
space development projects such as launching communication satellites. Investors and lenders seek to maximize economic
returns from capital while avoiding risk. The
cost of capital is higher for riskier investments. Persuading
investors and lenders to part with their capital requires making credible promises that
they will receive better returns than they would have received from making alternative
investments during the same time period commensurate with risk. While investors often accept higher levels of risk
than do lenders, they do so in the expectation of even better returns. Ordinary space development projects confront not
only the risks that their businesses might not make money and that the technology might
fail to work as projected, but also that they might not attract enough investment because
the necessary capital investment is too chunky.
In other words, the up-front capital investment necessary to proceed
with even an ordinary space development project tends to be relatively large and to take a
relatively long time period before generating cash flows or profits (Simonoff 1997: 73-74;
U.S. Department of Commerce 1990: 55-60; McLucas 1991).
It is important for the subsequent discussion that the reader note that many
investors typically understand the phrase long time period to mean 5
years (Marshall and Bansal 1992: 99-100).
If attracting capital for projects using proven
technologies like communications satellites remains difficult, imagine the difficulty of
attracting sufficient capital to construct a mining facility on the Moon or terraforming
Mars or Venus. Such projects are
extraordinarily chunky in that they would require massive amounts of capital
to be invested up front and would take long or very long time periods before
generating economic returns. The total amount
of capital available for investment in anything is finite and the private investors and
lenders who control most of it normally enjoy multiple investment opportunities. Investors and lenders are typically reluctant to
concentrate their risks on a single project. Investors
and lenders are also reluctant to lock up their capital in very long time investments or
loans because this increases their opportunity costs.
Consider the proposal for terraforming Mars by
manufacturing halocarbon gases to cause a greenhouse warming of the planet (Zubrin and
Wagner 1996: 260-268). Perfluorocarbons and
sulfur hexafluoride are popular candidate gases because they dissociate slowly under
ultraviolet radiation (Fogg 1995: 237). Warming
would cause the Martian regolith to release its carbon dioxide and genetically engineered
plants would release oxygen from carbon dioxide. After
900 years of greenhouse warming, atmospheric pressure would increase to 600 millibars,
which is slightly less than the average atmospheric pressure in Denver or the normal cabin
pressure in international carriers. Humans
who are acclimated to low atmospheric pressure might take up residence on Mars within 700
years (Fogg 1995: 106; Zubrin and Wagner 1997: 262).
The price for this proposal is described as several hundred billion
dollars (Zubrin and Wagner 1997: 265).
A back of the envelope calculation involving
six assumptions drawn from the proposal outlined above will illustrate the capitalization
problem. Assume the up front
capital investment needed for the project is $200 billion and that this sum could be
borrowed from private lenders at 5% interest compounded annually for 700 years. Assume there would be no inflation and no
deflation during this 700 years. Assume the
project would produce a breathable atmosphere in 700 years.
Finally, assume the project would generate all of its cash flows from the sale of
Martian real estate and lenders would be willing to wait 700 years for payment. Before any profit would be realized, real estate
sales would have to produce a staggering 1.36 x 10 15 billion dollars to pay
off the debt accumulated over 700 years. Assuming
further that seas cover only 10% of the surface of Mars, the dry remaining 90% of Martian
surface area which might be sold would total 1.3 x 10 13 meters 2
(Carr 1996: 6; Fogg 1995: 310). Thus an
average square meter of Martian real estate would have to fetch 1,046 billion dollars to
pay off the creditors. While we may hope for
a vast, general increase in wealth over the next 700 years, this would still appear to
make Martian real estate awfully pricey.
Rather than accumulate this mind-boggling burden of debt
to finance its halocarbon plants, promoters might export goods and services from Mars to
Earth worth the 30 billion dollars in annual interest payments. That, however, would require additional large
capital investments to for industries to produce the goods and services to be exported. Certainly extreme caution is in order whenever the
proposed solution to a debt problem involves taking on more debt. Nor could there be any guarantee that these
additional large capital investments would result in profitable business ventures. To make matters worse, the number and size of
business ventures which might be operated more profitably from Mars than from anywhere on
Earth may be very small.
If the idea of borrowing massive amounts of capital from
commercial banks for 700 years beggars the imagination, then consider the chances of
attracting enough capital for the same project by offering equity to venture capitalists
or the managers of major public corporations. The
time period between the initial investment and the economic payoff is far longer than that
contemplated in any business plan. Indeed, it
is telling that the short list of formal organizations which have operated continuously
for the last 700 years or more does not include a single business enterprise. Instead, all of the organizations are either
governmental or religious bodies. If operated continuously is taken to mean
absolutely no interruptions in operation, then the governmental bodies fall out and the
list narrows to include a surprisingly small number of religious bodies.
The lesson is that, ceteris paribus, very large
space development projects are probably too unattractive as investments for private
investors and lenders. For the current
generation of space development enthusiasts, indoctrinated in the principles of
neo-classical or free market economics popularized in the Reagan years, this is a very
disquieting conclusion. Many exhibit a fierce
libertarianism. They share an ideological
conviction that private enterprise and unfettered markets are capable of overcoming almost
any technological or economic obstacle.[4] Government appears less as the driving force for
space exploration than as the political and bureaucratic obstacle to technological
innovation and the commercial development of space. Given
the disappointing performance of NASA in the 1970's and 1980's, convictions such as these are hardly surprising (Kay 1995:161-171). Space development enthusiasts watched as
government funding for NASA programs declined steadily while important opportunities for
commercial launch capability and space industrialization in near Earth space were lost. Yet the lessons drawn about from the
disappointments of the 1970's and 1980's are probably the wrong lessons for space
development. Government participation in the economic development of space is essential. Why else would promoters combine libertarian
denunciations of the governments role in space development with political demands
for indirect subsidies in the form of tax credits for space commerce and the privatization
of public assets in the form of the International Space Station (Lehrer 1999). Complaints
about the role of government in space development would be more convincing if private
sector efforts in space had produced comparable results.
Government space programs can point to records of successfully launching
interplanetary probes and spacecraft with human crews. Even after all the excuses have
been made, the record of private sector accomplishments in space is unimpressive. Of course, identifying space sector efforts as
private is somewhat problematic because many employ technology developed with
government funds, or employ castoff parts and borrowed facilities from government
programs, or anticipate that the government will be their primary buyer.
The fundamental problem in opening any contemporary
frontier, whether geographic or technological, is not lack of imagination or will, but
lack of capital to finance initial construction which makes the subsequent and typically
more profitable economic development possible. Solving
this fundamental problem involves using one or more forms of direct or indirect government
intervention in the capital market.
When space development enthusiasts describe how
permanent human communities might be established in space, they often draw analogies to
the European colonization of the Americas and to the winning of the western
frontiers of the United States and Canada, analogies which are often given a very
contemporary libertarian spin. Complex
historical processes are offered up as examples of the triumph of individualism and
private enterprise.
The unspun truth about European colonization in the
Americas, and in Asia and Africa, is that the state played a central role in all colonial
enterprises. European colonies often emerged
out of trading ventures organized as joint stock companies chartered by the colonizing
state and in which the crown invested both
its prestige and its capital. Colonial
territory was conquered and defended by
soldiers and sailors paid either by the colonizing state or the local colonial state. Plantations and mines were often directly owned by
the local colonial state. Trading monopolies
and tax privileges granted by the colonizing state to the local colonial state were used
to attract capital investment. Indeed,
conceptual distinctions between public and private economic activity which seem so clear
today were much less clear in the heyday of colonialism.
The unspun truth about the winning of the
western frontiers of the United States and Canada make for even poorer libertarian dramas. Notwithstanding all the hardy pioneers in their
covered wagons, the western frontier of the United States was really won by
the U.S. Army and the construction of the
railroads which were capitalized by enormous Federal land grants.[5] Similarly, the western frontier of Canada was
won by cash grants, subsidies, loans, and the guarantee of bond issues by the
Canadian government to finance the construction of the railroads.
A better historical analogy for establishing permanent human communities in space is
actually provided by one of the greatest civil engineering project of this century--the
construction of the Panama Canal. As would be
true with any very large space development project, constructing the Panama Canal required
that tough new engineering and science problems had to be overcome in an unforgiving
environment, a labor force had to be imported and supported, and sufficient capital had to
be invested despite the fact that private investors could not or would not provide the
financing necessary to complete the task. After
twenty years of failed efforts by private French firms to dig a canal across the isthmus
of Panama and the failure of a private American firm to dig a canal through Nicaragua, it
was the United States government that successfully completed the construction of the
Panama Canal.[6] Financing by the United States government
and management by U.S. Army engineers succeeded where the private sector failed. Engineering problems more difficult than those
which were encountered in constructing the
Suez Canal were solved, yellow fever and malaria were effectively controlled, a new
sovereign nation-state was created, and world commerce was facilitated.[7] Not bad for government work.
Very large space development projects should be
understood as massive public works projects constructed to provide the environmental and
economic requirements for permanent human settlement beyond Earth. If these new human settlements are to
attract and keep the kind of people needed, then they will have to be livable communities. Making them livable will provide plenty of scope
for private firms to profit from the provision of goods and services. But private firms will not do the heavy lifting
necessary to finance the construction of the very large space project within which and
around which such a livable community may grow.
The crucial difference between governments and private
firms is not that governments are better at managing very large projects, but that they
are better at financing very large projects. Sovereign
national governments may print currency, sell or mortgage public assets, or levy taxes on
property and persons within their territories. Governments
may borrow from private lenders or other governments against future tax revenues or
guarantee payment of loans made between private lenders and private borrowers against
future tax revenues. Governments may issue
bonds backed by nothing more than their promise to redeem at face value. Governments are not liquidated when they are bankrupt. Governments may offer a wide range of direct and
indirect subsidies as incentives for private investment.
In effect, governments exercise the kind of power over the movements of money that
is tailor made for expensive development projects. Given
the problems inherent in trying to finance very large space projects with entirely private
borrowing or investment, it makes sense to look to government for direct and indirect
If the construction of any very large space
development project is to be attempted in the next century, three objectives or tasks
involving the use of government will have to be achieved.
The first objective would be to persuade a sponsoring space-faring power or powers
with the economic wherewithal, presumably the United States, European Union, or Japan, to
absorb as much of the initial costs of the project, including exploration, technology
development, planning, and infrastructure construction, as politically possible. The old fashioned term power is used
here because the European Union is not a nation-state.
It is not necessary that the power make a firm commitment to complete the entire
project so long as it pays for some of the up front costs. Offsetting any of the costs at
the beginning of the project would be valuable. However,
project promoters should be able to exploit sunk costs arguments to appeal for additional
assistance from the sponsoring power. If the sponsoring power
could be persuaded to continue funding the project until completion through grants or low
interest loans then the capitalization barrier is breached.
Given the enormous sums of capital involved in the proposals for most very large
space development projects, full funding from the sponsoring power seems unlikely. Yet each additional contribution would not only reduce
the total amount of capital borrowing but would help to persuade private lenders that the
project is credit worthy (Sweetman 1999:77).
Persuading a space faring power to support any part of a
very large space development project will require mobilization of elite and mass public
support. The historical experience of late 19th century naval arms races and
exploration (and colonialism) in Africa, of early 20th century polar
exploration, and of late 20th century Cold War nuclear weapons race and space
exploration all suggest that international competition offers a far better tool for
mobilizing public support than international cooperation.
At least in the short term, effective political advertizing and lobbying should be
capable of emotionally engaging masses and elites in international competition over the
further exploration and control of territory in space. International
competition need not be military in nature to fire the public imagination. International competition in civilian endeavors
such as Olympic sports can also whip up intense public passions, at least over the short
term. Good propaganda requires the same
elements as melodrama: a hero, a villain, and a simple story line involving struggle
between good and evil. A public relations
firm would have little difficulty locating all three elements in competition over space. The public relations job would be to convince
elites and masses in the United States, the European Union, or Japan that competition for
territory in space has erupted and that their team is being left in the dust. Such a neo-jingoist public relations and policy
lobbying campaign would need to be coordinated by an interest group capable of keeping the
focus of new public interest in space on competition in civilian endeavors.
The second objective is to charter either a
Development Authority, a semi-sovereign governmental entity, or
perhaps even a sovereign nation-state. This
new government would come into being possessing legal ownership over the territory slated
for development, whether it is the Moon, an asteroid, or Mars, which would be expropriated
from common ownership. Under Article 11 of
the 1979 Moon Treaty, extraterrestrial resources are deemed the common heritage of
mankind. Thus, at least in principle,
everyone on Earth owns all extraterrestrial territory. In practice, the treaty may discourage many from
attempting to exploit extraterrestrial territory because of the potential for free-riding
by other owners who might assert a claim for a share of any economic benefits. The rather commonsensical argument that the
collective ownership of extraterrestrial territories discourages their economic
development would provide political elites with justification for this expropriation,
which might take place under cover of some claim that everyone would eventually benefit
from economic development. Vesting legal
ownership in a new government would free private lenders and investors from some of the
legal risk involved in doing business in space. Contracts
and titles to property in the extraterrestrial territory would then be enforceable in
courts of law. Of course, payment of partial
compensation for such an act of celestial squatting might be negotiated after the project
has begun to pay off.
The creation of Development Authorities as special
purpose governments with authority extending across the territory of several subnational
or national governments is an increasingly common response to constructing and managing
large public works projects in advanced industrial countries. Thus Harris (1998: 226-227) proposes creation of a
Lunar Economic Development Authority, a Mars Economic Development Authority, and an
Orbital Economic Development Authority. Each
Economic Development Authority would be empowered to issue bonds to generate the capital
necessary to finance public-private ventures and to lease industrial sites on the lunar
surface. In effect, a special purpose
government would be created to carry out the difficult job of capitalizing new ventures
beyond the territory of an existing nation-state. Where
the government proposed by Harris may fall short of the mark is in the degree to which it
may exploit the law making and economic management tools available to government and in
the question of sovereignty over extra-terrestrial territories.
While proposals for chartering Development Authorities
are appealing as non-threatening and politically acceptable responses to the need for
government creation in space, proposals for semi-sovereign governmental
entities or sovereign nation-states would find fewer takers. Yet these organizations might be better suited to
the purpose of developing space frontiers. Now
in vogue among international relations scholars as responses to either intractable
problems involving legal sovereignty over disputed and marginal territories or difficult
international regulatory regime problems, the semi-sovereign governmental
entity offers a form or organization which permits partial political
subordination to one or more nation-states and/or partial economic dependence on one or
more nation-states. The essential ambiguity
of its political status is one of the attractions of the entity.[8] Creating new sovereign nation-states might seem
audacious at first, but it has been a surprisingly common event in this century. Indeed, a majority of the members states in the
United Nations came into being in this century as colonial powers handed over formal
sovereignty at the stroke of a pen. While all
three forms of government would possess the legal right to sell, lease, or mortgage public
assets and issue their own bonds, the entities and nation-states could produce
their own currencies, charter their own state banks, devise their own commercial and tax
codes, adjudicate disputes in their own courts, and enforce their own legal decisions.[9] All of these might prove to be useful tools in
economic development. The nation-state may
have one clear advantage over the other two forms of government. A nation-state should be more difficult to
dislodge from the territory in space that had been expropriated from everyone. Sovereignty ultimately rests on force and
nation-states may use force or the threat of force to make good their claims to
sovereignty. Given the sponsorship of a space
faring power in the next century, whether the United States, European Union, or Japan, the
fact of expropriation of extraterritorial territory by the new government would be
difficult to prevent or undo.
The third objective would be to maximize cash flows to
pay for borrowing the capital necessary to begin construction. Here the partial political subordination of the
new government to one or more space faring powers on Earth would be useful because they
could alter their tax laws to encourage investment in the project and guarantee bond
issues for the project. Such guarantees are
routinely offered by states with international investment banks for borrowing by states
with developing economies, and that borrowing often finances large public works projects. Guaranteeing loans is politically popular because
it is essentially cost free so long as the project produces revenues to pay interest. The resulting debt should be large enough that
participating investment banks on Earth will participate in domestic political lobbies
working to prevent the abandonment of the project should it run into trouble. Contractors and employee unions who benefit from
the project constitute additional elements in the political lobby which would useful in
helping the project through its inevitable rough patches.
As is common with transfers of official development assistance (foreign aid) from
donor states to recipient states, the sponsoring powers agreement to guarantee the
bond sales might be tied to exclusive contracting for goods and services from firms in the
economy of the sponsoring power.
For very large space projects close to the Earth, the
new real estate rendered habitable or economically exploitable by the very large space
development project would constitute the most valuable public assets which could be sold
or leased to raise revenue. Sales of mining
rights and profits from public-private joint ventures in mining would probably provide the
chief source of cash for projects on the Moon and asteroids but their proximity might
permit manufacturing.
Identifying sources of revenue sufficient to pay
interest on borrowing for very large space development projects elsewhere is more
difficult. Distance and thus higher
transportation costs to and from Earth make the prospects for profitable mining ventures
on Mars or other bodies in the solar system appear dimmer.
Certainly, improved transportation technology might make mining on Mars profitable. If not, however, the proposal to terraform Mars
bears a closer resemblance to other proposals which promise economic returns distant in
time and space.
Consider, the proposal to build an interstellar
spacecraft bound for 47 Ursae Majoris. As
has been discussed, commerce over interstellar distances is improbable. Sales of mining rights or minerals would not
finance the trip. However, a project to build
an interstellar generation spacecraft might sell passage to immigrants. The desire to emigrate to new worlds which
resemble Earth, or more practically to see ones descendants emigrate to new worlds
which resemble Earth, will almost certainly increase as our knowledge about planets
orbiting the neighboring stars increases. The
problems with realizing these aspirations are that the journeys might last several
conventional lifetimes and only a small number of spaces which might be available on an
interstellar spacecraft. While promoters
might find many applicants who are psychologically and physically fit for the rigors of
the voyage, their combined passages are unlikely to be enough to pay for the project. But another source of revenue for the project
might come from passages paid not to transport the living bodies of applicants but to pay
the passages for their genes. Arguably, human
beings have an interest in seeing their genes survive (Dawkins 1976: 103). The dispersal of ones genes among human
populations on an Earth like extra-solar planet should increase the chances of their
perpetuation. Thus the project might be
capitalized by selling passages for frozen eggs, sperm and embryos in produce new
generations of humans on the extra-solar
planets. Genes would be far less expensive to
transport in these forms than as living humans. Of
course, this assumes impressive but entirely plausible advances in biomedical technology. If this particular proposal seems peculiar to
people living on a crowded planet, it is important to member that frontiers on Earth are
characterized by labor shortages and that a frontier on an Earth-like world would suffer a
similar labor shortage. Moreover, this
particular frontier would probably be characterized by a lack of human genetic diversity
and thus the frozen eggs, sperm, and embryos would be valuable. While this kind of genetic colonization sacrifices
the emotional ties which normally link different generations, it still presents the
opportunity for biological ties to future generations of humans on a new world. To book passage for ones genes on an
interstellar spacecraft would be buying the present enjoyment of the prospect of effective
generic immortality. This project would also
benefit from being able to store frozen genetic colonists as it accumulated
the capital to pay for the interstellar spaceship.
A somewhat similar mechanism might also be used to pay
some of the interest on capital borrowed to finance the terraforming of Mars. Buyers might willing to purchase the right to
emigrate to a terraformed Mars seven centuries hence.
The alienable right of one person to emigrate would be an intangible property with
a real market value if prospective purchasers were confident that their right to the
property was legally enforceable. Assuming
that the new government owning Mars and overseeing the terraforming process maintained
public trust in its management and in the science and engineering of terraforming, the
market value of the right should be expected to increase over time. The problem of winning and keeping trust is
related to the longevity of human organizations.
While the future may prove otherwise, the past suggests that businesses are likely
to be shorter lived than states and religious bodies associated with established state
religions. States and religious bodies are
capable of drawing upon sustained and intense loyalties which have little to do with the
kind of short term material self interest that is privileged in rational business decision
making. But more than mere
organizational survival would be demanded. For
a terraforming project, what would be needed is an organization combining administrative
and scientific competence with a commitment to constructing and operating a public works
project which would take centuries to complete. Because
historical precedents for such an organization are lacking, the default choice is the
state. For all their recognized failings,
states are sometimes capable of surviving for centuries, inspiring and exploiting
non-rational loyalties, and of managing economies and large public works projects. Unless some new long-lived and more technically
competent organizational form emerges as an alternative, the state remains the best
available choice for these tasks.
Completing any very large space development project
would probably win humanity a permanent presence in frontiers beyond Earth. New science, new technology, new wealth, and long term species survival might
all be achieved with such a project. Winning
this new Canaan in the heavens will need the kind of massive up front capital
investment which it seems only governments are able to supply or to encourage. If the economic development of space is ever to move much beyond visionary pipe dreams and the contemporary timid exploitation of near
Earth space, then the nature of the capital investment needed to open the frontiers of
space to permanent human settlement and the role of government in meeting that need will
have to be acknowledged.
[Editor's Note June, 2002: Reader's may want to consult; Hickman, John, and
Everett Dolman. "Resurrecting the Space Age: A State-Centered Commentary on
the Outer Space Regime." Comparative Strategy " 21
(January-March 2002): 1-20.]
Carr, Michael H., 1996. Water
on Mars. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cox, Donald W., and James H.
Chestik. 1998.
Doomsday Asteroid: Can We Survive? Amherst,
NJ: Prometheus Books.
Dawkins, Richard. 1976. The
Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fogg, Martyn J., 1995. Terraforming:
Engineering Planetary Environments. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers.
Foust, Jeff. Barriers
to Space Tourism, SpaceViews. July 1, 1999. www.spaceviews.com
Harris, P.R. and D.J.
ODonnell. 1998. Facilitating a New Space Market through a Lunar Economic
Development Authority, in G. Haskell and M. Rycroft, ed.s, New Space Markets.
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 223-231.
Johnson-Freese, Joan, and
Roger Handberg. 1997. Space, the Dormant Frontier: Changing the
Paradigm for the 21st Century. Westport,
CT: Praeger.
Kay, W.D. 1985. Can
Democracies Fly in Space?: The Challenge of Revitalizing the U.S. Space Program. Westport, CN: Praeger.
Lehrer, Eli. 1999.
Picture Profile: Wuller Says Uncle Sam Cant Monopolize Space. Insight
on the News. 15, 17:20-23.
Lewis, John S., and Ruth A.
Lewis. 1987. Space Resources: Breaking the Bonds of Earth. New York: Columbia University
Lovelock, James, and Michael
Allaby. 1984.
The Greening of Mars. New York:
Warner Books.
Mack, Gerstle. 1974. The
Land Divided: A History of The Panama Canal and Other Isthmian Projects. New York: Octagon Books.
Marlowe, John. 1964. World
Ditch: The Making of the Suez Canal. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Marshall, John F., and Vipul
K. Bansal. 1992. Financial Engineering: A Complete Guide to Financial Innovation. New York: New York Institute of Finance.
McLucas, John L., 1991. Space
Commerce. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Regis, Edward, Jr., 1985. The Moral Status of Multigenerational
Interstellar Exploration, in Ben R. Finney and Eric M. Jones, ed.s, Interstellar
Migration and the Human Experience. Berkely,
CA: University of California Press. Pp. 248-259.
Salomon, Warren. 1996. The
Economics of Interstellar Commerce, in Stanley Schmidt and Robert Zubrin, ed.s, Islands
in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space.
New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 243-259.
Schmitt, Harrison H., 1996.
The Millennium Project, in Carol R. Stoker and Carter Emmart, ed.s, Strategies
for Mars: A Guide to Human Exploration. San Diego: American Astrophysical Society. pp.
Simonoff, Jerome. 1997.
Financing of Space Business, in Dorinda G. Dallmeyer and Kosta Tsipis, ed.s, Heaven
and Earth: Civilian Uses of Near-Earth Space. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. pp.
Sweetman, Bill. 1999.
Runaway to Space. Popular Science. 254, 6: 72-77.
Taylor, George Rogers. 1951. The
Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860. New
York: Rineheart and Company.
Tippit, Sarah. Hilton
Not Planning A Hotel In Space. Reuters. September 27, 1999.
U.S. Department of
Commerce. 1990. Commercial Space Ventures:
A Financial Perspective. Washington.
Wilford, John Noble. 1990. Mars
Beckons: The Mysteries, the Challenges, the Expectations of Our Next Great Adventure in
Space. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Zubrin, Robert, and
Richard Wagner. 1996. The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red
Planet and Why We Must. New York: Simon
& Schuster.
Zubrin, Robert M., 1996
Colonizing the Outer Solar System, in Stanley Schmidt and Robert Zubrin, ed.s,
Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 85-94.
[1] While more difficult to express in monetary terms,
the public relations cost involved in the destruction or loss of a robot in
space would be less than that associated with the death of a human in space.
[2] Robert Zubrins
(1996:85-94) scenario for the colonization of the outer planets driven by mining and
strategic military position encounters the same fundamental barrier.
The requirement that money transferred in electronic banking must ultimately represent
real purchasing power might be relaxed for commerce within the Solar System because the
time between sending and receiving messages would be relatively brief. Electronic banking might be conducted using
entirely automated banks on the Moon in much the same way that money is now moved
electronically between banks on Earth. Once
again, however, this would provide little impetus toward the permanent human settlement in
[4] The excitement among
space development enthusiasts generated by the false rumor that Hilton Hotels Corporation
intended to construct an orbital or Lunar hotel reveals something of the intensity of
these beliefs (Tippit 1999). The fact that
Hilton or any other hotel chain has not committed large amounts of capital to such a
project may reveal something just as important about space development.
[5] State and municipal
government assistance in capitalizing the construction of the railroad and canal systems
east of the Mississippi River was also extensive (Johnson 1951: 48-51; 90-96). A
surprising number of these railroads were built with capital from sales of government
bonds and operated as publicly owned firms.
[6] Note that promoter
Ferdinand de Lesseps succeeded in constructing the Suez Canal because the Egyptian state
provided half the necessary capital and vast amounts of corvee or drafted peasant
labor for the project (Marlowe 1964:55-92, 130-141).
Yet he failed in Panama largely because he relied upon private investors to
capitalize the project (Mack 1974: 355-376).
[7] The objection that the
United States acted as an imperial bully in carving Panama out of the flesh of Columbia is
entirely true but beside the point. This
historical facts are not pretty. Yet
contemporary Panamanians do not clamor to make Panama a part of Columbia once again. With endemic political and criminal violence in
Columbia and roughly equivalent per capita GNP in Panama and Columbia, the silence of
Panamanians on the subject of reunification with Columbia speaks volumes. The Republic of Panama and the Panama Canal are
the undeniable facts on the ground.
[8] Examples include the
Palestinian Authority, the European Union, and possibly colonies in which colonial
populations exercise broad local self government such the Faeroe Islands, Greenland, New
Caledonia, and Puerto Rico. Sovereign
micro-states which possess few or atrophied attributes of nation-states such as Andorra,
Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican occupy a position very close to the threshold between
entities and sovereign nation-states.
[9] As the contemporary
debate over dollarization in Argentina suggests, in the future some nation-states may
dispense with national currencies as an unnecessary expression of sovereignty.
"I would like to thank Francesco Scordato for his advice and
TABLE of CONTENTS |
� 2004 Journal of Evolution and Technology.
All Rights Reserved.
Published by the
Institute for Ethics and
Emerging Technologies
Mailing Address: James Hughes Ph.D., Williams 229B,
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text:
by GRANT MOSER
Flourtown resident Mark Pricskett, 47, has always had a love for film. As a child, he remembers watching the 1933 film, "King Kong," and being grabbed by the suspense. Even though he knew at some point a giant ape would appear on screen, he was more interested in the story leading up to it. "I like stories to be more intimate, more focused on what's happening internally than externally," he explained.
Pricskett has had acting roles in seven feature films from 1998 to 2011, including "Unbreakable," "Snake Eyes" and "The Greek American." After graduation from Lincoln High in Northeast Philly, he attended the Art Institute of Philadelphia to study photography and turned that into a successful career. He worked at Strawbridge & Clothier as their senior staff photographer for 11 years and then moved on to his current 15-year job at a publishing company. (In 2011, Mark won the National Gold Ozzie Award for a cover for Stitches, a fashion magazine; the Ozzie is the highest award given to commercial magazine photographers.) But he always had a dream of becoming a filmmaker.
"That's my passion," he insisted. "That's the direction my career has gone in. That's where I'm putting my focus. I've been using my experience as a photographer to write and direct these short films."
His two films, "Kevin's Friend" (2008) and "Finding Father" (currently wrapping up production),
both look at life through the perspective of a child. "Kevin's Friend" is about a boy who walks home through a park every day until one afternoon he meets a girl and they become friends, though something is different about her. "Finding Father" is about a father and daughter who lose their wife/mother and their subsequent journey through the grief.
"I think both films are about listening to children," Mark said. "It's about understanding a child's voice. Children have things to say, and sometimes they can't express what's on their minds. I think both films are related in that sense. In both films, they find ways to express themselves."
(According to the Internet Movie Database, only six out of 1.7 million films from the 124 years of the film industry's history portray a child living with a widower father and present it from the child's perspective, as does "Finding Father." "There are many adult challenges that children are sometimes faced with," said the local writer/director, "and this film deals with some of those challenges.")
When he started working on "Finding Father," the Flourtown filmmaker wanted to focus on a child coping with adolescence through her art. But as he was writing it, a friend's wife passed away from cancer and left four daughters behind. The grief he saw the family going through began to influence his writing, and it became a story about how a child's artistic voice can help heal families.
He mentioned the direction the story was taking to other friends and discovered that several of his friends had also lost their mothers to cancer when they were young. That's when the story began to take on real significance for him.
He realized this film could have the ability to touch a great many people, so he began researching what the loss of a parent and spouse does to a family. The story in "Finding Father" is fictitious, but it is based on several true stories and in-person interviews with individuals who have gone through similar grieving experiences.
Pricskett also read books on grieving and consulted extensively with Dr. Maureen Davey, of Drexel University, who specializes in research into the effects of mental and physical disorders such as depression related to coping with a mother's premature death due to breast cancer.
While these are powerful, compelling issues, Pricskett had to walk a fine line between making a movie that was reality- and emotionally-driven and also finding a way to entertain an audience.
"When you watch a film, you're expecting to be entertained," he said, "no matter what the subject is. That's my challenge as a filmmaker, not only to tell this heavy story but also to entertain the audience. This film doesn't hit you in the face; I believe its messages are very subtle. These are heavy issues, but it's told in an almost fairy tale-type of story."
And as a filmmaker, Pricskett also has to navigate all the real-world details of making a movie. From when he started to today, he has put in two years time, working on the short film every single day. Apart from researching and writing the script, he had to cast the film and arrange for shooting permits, labor permits, trailers and equipment. And even though the filming has been completed, his work is far from finished.
Mark is currently working on editing the film; then it will be sent to a composer for the music, and then into post-production. There are also promotional materials to be designed and distributed, and then the film will be entered into film festivals.
"With 'Kevin's Friend,' I had a goal of making it into three film festivals, and that's how many it was in (the FirstGlance Film Festival Philadelphia in 2009, Utopia Film Festival in 2010 and Alexandria Film Festival in 2009). Because of those festivals, it was picked up by the distributor Indieflix, and now people can watch it online or buy the DVD. For 'Finding Father,' I have a goal of 10 festivals."
Having a distributor pick up Pricskett's film is important for two reasons. It helps get his work out to audiences, but it also helps pay the bills. This passion for filmmaking isn't cheap. Averaged out, this film cost him about $1,000 a minute to make. ("Finding Father" is approximately 12 minutes long.)
Music for the film will be created by two-time Emmy Award-winning composer Michael Whalen. Bart Shatto, who plays the father, starred in the original Broadway casts of Tony-nominated "The Civil War" and "Dracula," and he played the iconic role of Jean Valjean in both the national tour and Broadway cast of "Les Miserables."
Pricskett funded the film mainly through loans and credit cards. That's why he partnered with Indiegogo, a website where projects such as "Finding Father" can be crowd-funded. The site allows any donations to be tax-deductible.
"I don't think people have any idea how much can go into a short film," he explained. "One thing people don't understand with filmmaking — and I've been on big-budget sets and smaller productions — is that every film is a miracle. It doesn't make any difference what the budget is. You're dealing with people and politics and red tape."
All the hard work, expense and time have not deterred Pricskett. He hopes to have "Finding Father" available for the public by spring of 2013, and then he'll start thinking about his next film. "I don't have a choice. I felt like I was born a filmmaker. I've worked my entire life to get to this point. This is how I'm wired. I feel like I am a good storyteller and that audiences would be interested in the stories I want to tell."
The Flourtown resident has no children, but he has a female companion who is a mixed media artist as well as a professional musician (bass guitar, vocals, and cello).
For more information on Pricskett, his films and the funding of "Finding Father," visit http://www.markpricskett.com.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Lady Googoo Gone Gone After Lady Gaga Gets Injunction Against Parody
from the Gaga-goes-Googoo deptLady Gaga is notoriously protective of her image. So much so, that it often seems that, to her, copyright is not about her music but her image. This attitude has led her to go on the offensive over random things that she (or her people) see as attacks on her image or brand -- such as ice cream. Now, she has taken to task parodies of her songs. While parody is protected in the US under fair use laws, the same cannot be said about the UK.
According to a Guardian report, Lady Gaga has won an injunction against Moshi Monsters developers, Mind Candy, over a parody character name 'Lady Googoo'. Lady Googoo is one of many parody characters in Moshi Monsters. Mind Candy had planned to build upon this character and had gone as far as creating animated music videos parodying songs by Lady Gaga (I have embedded one below for those feeling adventurous and/or masochistic). Unfortunately, Lady Gaga doesn't have a sense of humor about the situation and it appears that neither do the UK courts.
Justice Vos has ruled that Mind Candy cannot play or offer for sale any Lady Googoo songs. However he did rule that the character, Lady Googoo, herself is safe to be included in the game as long as it is not associated with any of the songs.
Lady Gaga stated that this move was to protect her image as people may be confused and think that these parody songs and videos have an official connection to her. In response, Michael Action Smith, Mind Candy's founder, said, "It's pretty obvious that kids will be able to tell the difference between the two characters." I can certainly tell the difference, but Lady Gaga and the courts couldn't.
What is really troubling about this is that it exemplifies what damage can be done when fair use is limited. As UK copyright law is currently written, parody is not legal and many artists are limited because of it. As Alastair Shaw, counsel at law firm Hogan Lovells said:
Tribute bands and parody songs have been around for years but what this case shows is the potential power of registered trademark law to put a stop to some of their activities.Without parody protection in copyright law, artists like Weird Al would have never become successful. Based on proposed changes to UK copyright laws, this type of parody could be protected in the future. Until the government of the UK takes action, more artists and companies will be harmed through lawsuits such as this. Not only will artists be harmed, but consumers and fans will be as well. As Smith says:
This may be particularly important for tribute acts or characters with names which are similar to the original acts, as they frequently are, who want to comercialise a track parodying a well-known song.
The shame is that millions of kids fell in love with Lady Goo Goo's debut single on YouTube and now won't be able to enjoy her musical exploits. It was all done in the name of fun and we would have thought that Lady Gaga could have seen the humor behind this parody.So much for humor when faced against copyright laws.
Filed Under: lady gaga, lady googoo, moshi monsters, parody, uk
Companies: mind candy


text: I would like to see an easier way to get rid of a background in a photo than having to "erase" it. It takes me a long time to erase and just keep one object in a photo, i.e., if I just want a person and have to erase the rest of the photo out. Even after I go through that LENGTHY process and it looks like I have gotten what I want, it never comes out that way. There is always residue left arount the cutout, etc. Maybe I am doing something wrong. I am just not that good as using the eraser. I get very discouraged.


text:
So....I finally found a job after a relatively quick 2.5 months....I start on the 11th and I'm so excited!!!
I've always been a big fan of "when God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." (Thanks, Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music!) In the last couple of months, it feels like The Big Guy (God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Whatever you'd like to call Him) has been throwing open every single window in my life....
Ironically, the job I landed came through a staffing agency that saw my resume online and thought I'd be a good fit. I hate the idea of 90 days-temp-to-hire, but I really think it will work out ok. It's a FANTASTIC job (at least on paper so far)and I honestly feel blessed to be given this opportunity.
I've loved the time I've been able to spend with my daughter, the time I've finally had to work on my family history stuff and just the general break in the craziness of life. I've also wrestled and put away a lot of personal issues that have needed to be settled for a long time. Having time to think really does that for you....
The one mar on this late spring/early summer awesomeness is my allergies this year.
I've always had the coughy/sneezy/pot smokin' red, itchy eyes that most people with seasonal allergies get, but this rare year, I got THE HIVES.
It doesn't happen every year, but the years it does, it's bad(thus the big caps.) Spontaneously I will break out in hand sized welt-like hives all over my body.
I'm the Incredible Hiving Moxie during these moments and I can't do anything about them but try to overdose on Benadryll. I never, ever take allergy medicine (I like to suffer or I'm stupid, I don't know), but when I get THE HIVES it's a quick trip to Walgreens for the happy, take away the crazy hives medicine.
Did I mention I had one of these attacks right before a job interview last month? Yep, I sure did. Luckily, clothes concealed my crazy shame. I itched my way through the interview!
The worst THE HIVES incident was 9 years ago on Handsome's college graduation day. Right in the middle of the ceremony, I broke out from head to foot in large, awful hives.
People stared.
My mother-in-law, the nurse, wanted to rush me to the hospital.
I was mildly freaking out, but I carried on....
All in all, it was a great break and I'm looking forward to my new job. It kind of freaks me out to realize how ready I was for my last job to end. I didn't have the courage to leave and I kept thinking things would get better, but honestly, after reflection, it's a release to be gone.
The Lord indeed works in mysterious ways.
It sucks that we won't be able to afford to go to California to see Handsome's sister's new baby in December and we've had to put off our "put new siding on the house" project mid-way through (I'm still hoping we can do it in Sept.), but we thankfully are coming through this momentary financial crisis relatively unscathed.
And for that, I'm thankful. Thank you Baby Jesus and the Easter Bunny for the miracles!
And thanks, Big Guy, once more for seeing me through something that seemed insurmountable.
You really do work in mysterious ways!!!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Open Windows
So....I finally found a job after a relatively quick 2.5 months....I start on the 11th and I'm so excited!!!
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 8:17 PM 3 comments
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
3 weeks ago today was the first day in 8 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 2 days that I didn't go to a full time job.
I was downsized....
It doesn't help that it wasn't my boss' decision...
It doesn't help that I got a great severance package...
It doesn't help that it wasn't my fault...
I felt empty...worthless...
Up until that point I had only been married 6 weeks longer than I had that job.
I had my daughter while I had that job.
I bought my first house while I had that job.
My husband and I have been through so much since I first got that job...
It was the sustaining thing through so much financial early-marriage chaos...
I was always "The Bread Winner"...
I knew it was probably coming, but I was in denial...
In January, our corporate office "restructured" the company. I was nervous and asked my boss what that meant for me. I was only one of a few "local" marketing managers left in 128 branches in the US and Canada. I kept my job for so long after so many of us fell.
I always knew my boss valued my work and that he'd keep me if he could.
Fuck it.
I kept my job because I was better than Corporate at getting results and up til now they couldn't find a reason to fire me legitimately. That's not an exaggeration.
I always played by the brand standards: used the right logos, fonts, graphics, but the ideas that really worked were all a local collaboration between the GM, the Sales Manager and me....
In January, the GM (some one who has been so inspirational as a business person to me) told me that if I was going to be eliminated, it would have already happened.
I was stupid and I believed him.
He hadn't let me down in the 5 years that I'd known him.
I have to give him a little bit of credit.
He fought for me and I don't doubt it.
He couldn't look me in the eye that day and had someone (that I HATE) do it...
But...he did say,
"I'm sorry, Moxie....I was the very last hold out. I did everything that I could. I'm the last of 128. I've fought for you for so long, but they won't let me any more. I'll do anything I can to help you find something else..."
Bleak comfort....right?
Strangely, I thought I'd be upset, but I wasn't.
I'd been unhappy for about a year and a half, REALLY unhappy since January. I knew it was time to go a long time ago, but I held on because it was familiar and because of the friends I'd made....We watched our kids grow up together, we weathered SO many financial challenges and creative differences together....it was like a family....
I was in firm denial.
But, done is done, am I right?
But, what really hurts is the fact that ONLY 2 HOURS after I finished a huge project, I was called in to the front office and let go... 2:15 pm on April 18th, 2011...
I'm still a little freaked out about the calm I felt.
I thought I'd cry...
I didn't.
I thought it would be harder...
It wasn't...
It was a weird calm and a rush of release.
It was all over and I didn't have to be stressed about that place again.
I just hated that it was so abrupt.
That my health insurance ran out at midnight that night.
That I didn't get the chance to say good bye to some of the most wonderful people I've known over the last 8.5 years.
Sure, I'll call those people in the next few weeks, tell them I'm doing fine and etc. and etc. but....I can't do it right now.
I hate job hunting. I hate the fact that business people lump "Sales and Marketing" together and think I want to be a salesperson.
Fuck that.
Let me create a campaign!!!
Let me strategize, design, implement and track something so I can see solid results.
I've known salespeople, and I'm not a salesperson. I hate getting junk mail promising me unrealistic amounts of money if I become a salesperson for XYZ BS Company.
I don't want to sell, I want to Market.
I'm a strategist.
I love the hunt and the target and the kill.
I love the rush of making someone who "hates junk mail and advertising" call us up anyway...
If you know any Marketing jobs in KC for someone with 10+ years of "roll your sleeves up and get results" marketing experience, let me know...
I hate sitting still...I need a job!
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 5:48 PM 7 comments
Thursday, February 10, 2011
RetroGag: Valentines One
There's no way I can do this series with a straight face...
So let's make fun of some historical shit...whadda ya say?
First up:
Yeah...ummm...I'm crazy...and I LOVE YOU!
Let's commit arson together..That's HOTT!!
A special kinda KC Lovin'...If you've never imagined licking bbq sauce offa somebody, this valentine ain't meant for you...It's a KC BBQ thing...
I love you so much, baby, it burns like the clap!!!
My pussy says "Meow" boys... grrr...
Creepy, non?
Ummm...dude? Don't try to take your love through airport security...I say this as a friend...
Ok, Constant Reader...get ready for an epic journey of awkward lovin' over the next coupla days...I'm addicted to these creepy, crazy, retro-lovin' Valentines....
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:58 PM 0 comments
RetroGag: Valentines....
One of the most interesting parts of my job as a part-time historian is discovering what other people think is "historical and priceless.."
People bring stuff into the museum I work for all the time. They think it's a precious historical document that must be preserved. 3/4 of the time they are right...
Recently I was hit with an incredible historical cache.
The motherlode of awesomeness....a rare find!!
Boxes and boxes of crap/historical awesomeness. Ex: a bumper sticker that promoted LBJ for president, a clipping from the KC Star in April 1912 talking about the Titanic going down, a lady's ciggerette case from the 1920's, an invite to the Priests of Pallas Parade..
Incredible stuff...
The thing that really struck me was a collection of Valentines from about the 1930's... They are so fragile, intricate and amazing as pieces of artwork. Someone kept these for 70-80 years and they certainly aren't the cheap copy paper versions that I looked at in Target the other day that feature SpongeBob, Hannah Montana and My Little Ponies for Darling's 1st grade class.
I'm amazed at the thoughtfulness people once put into sending these pieces...
Back in the era of sending things via the post office, I think Valentines meant more...
I pondered this and today I ran across a collection of Valentines in one of my favorite blogs "Found in Mom's Basement". Nostaglia lovers, if you haven't found this blog yet, you're slacking...
In the true spirit of mocking things vintage, I've decided to feature some crazy vintage ads over the next couple of days...
Stay tuned, Constant Reader, and help me decipher these Odes to Love from Eras Past...
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:35 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 28, 2011
Happy Blogiversary to Me!! (Belatedly of Course)
Hard to believe it but I started this crazy ol' blog back on Jan. 24, 2008.
3 whole years!
It doesn't seem like it's been that long at all, and I've definitely decreased my frequency in the last year, but I'm hoping to do better this year.
Considering the fact that most blogs fizzle out soon after creation, I guess the fact that I still sporadically post should at least mean something. (Can you hear me justifying my lack of posts in my head?)
Any who, thanks to all my Constant Readers who still stick around!
If you're twisted and demented and like statistics, I found two really interesting articles on blogs:
Interesting, but a bit dated.
Technorati's 2010 State of the Blogosphere.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 11:04 AM 3 comments


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I cried many times yesterday, and yes, this was one of those times:
President Barack Obama was sworn in yesterday, and his inaugural address called for the expanded use of renewable energy to meet the twin challenges of energy security and climate change. Noting that "each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet," President Obama looked to the near future, saying that as a nation, the United States will "harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." Those were the first references ever to our nation's energy use, to renewable resources, and to climate change in an inauguration speech of a U.S. president. President Obama later circled back to the subject of climate change, proclaiming that "with old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to ... roll back the specter of a warming planet." See the inaugural addresses of all the presidents, including President Obama's inaugural address, on the American Presidency Project Web site, an effort of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
As the president was being sworn in, the newly revised White House Web site went live, and it prominently features President Obama's agenda for energy and the environment. The president's "New Energy for America" plan calls for a federal investment of $150 billion over the next decade to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. Specifically, the plan calls for renewable energy to supply 10% of the nation's electricity by 2012, rising to 25% by 2025. The plan also calls for deploying energy efficiency, including the weatherization of one million homes each year. It also calls for an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to achieve an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. And to help meet that goal, the plan sets a target of placing one million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015, along with a national standard to reduce the carbon emissions from our motor fuels. To help meet the plug-in hybrid goal, the plan calls for a new $7,000 tax credit for those who purchase advanced vehicles. See the president's New Energy for America plan on the White House Web site.
The U.S. Senate also acted swiftly following the inauguration, and in a brief session the senators confirmed the nominations of Dr. Steven Chu as Secretary of Energy, Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, and Ken Salazar as Secretary of Interior. In an Interior Department press release, Salazar noted the importance of federal lands to energy production, promising to help build a clean energy economy for the twenty-first century. He also called President Obama's energy imperative "our moon shot" for energy independence. See the announcement of the confirmations from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
First Inaugurations speech to ever mention energy, climate, renewables!
I cried many times yesterday, and yes, this was one of those times:
Posted by Green-A at 12:14 PM
1 comment:
- BAC said...
Hi, I referenced your blog in my blog today - enjoy, you're in good company,
Barbara Campagna
- February 6, 2009 at 5:50 PM


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Multiple sclerosis, the disease, is different for everyone. MS symptoms are different as well. Then, for kicks, let's throw in terms like disease activity, MS progression or progressive/remitting MS and we've got a soup that bubbles vile, like a Hecate's caldron!
As we move, in earnest, from one season to the next I have read from many of your comments how your MS symptoms change. Many are affected by summer's heat while others revel in the freedom the warmth gives their muscles. Winter's bite is a breath of cool freshness to those who are heat-sensitive and a cursed vice to others.
Some have reported that even exacerbations seem to happen more frequently (or even repeatedly) at particular times of year.
Other than heat sensitivity, I must admit that my multiple sclerosis seems to have no particular rhyme or reason for when it fits and when it starts. It just does what it's going to do, when it's going to do it.
The stresses of the holidays are often cursed by those living with MS; but really find me a person who doesn't bemoan certain aspects of that time of year… particularly as we already see skeletons being replaced with reindeer and haunted houses with Santa's Workshop!!!
'Tis a time for sipping hot cider in the pumpkin patch and looking over our shoulders at the summer past and gazing past the falling leaves, if we squint, to the first flurries of snow.
Let us then talk this weekend about the way in which the seasonal changes change our MS, its symptoms and our ability to get around and get on with our lives…
Wishing you and your family the best of health.
Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.


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Today has been 4 months since Brian died. Needless to say it has been a difficult day.
This morning, I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Dale Greiner of The University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Greiner took the time to explain his research to me. While his background is primarily in Diabetes research, his work offers promise to patients with Cancer, Diabetes, HIV, and other auto-immune diseases.
"Our laboratory
is focusing on the development of "humanized" mice to study human T1D
in collaboration with Dr. Leonard Shultz at The Jackson Laboratory. We
have developed unique strains of mice that can be engrafted with
functional human cells and tissues, including human islets and human
immune systems. We are now using these mice to understand how human beta
cells resist killing by a human autoimmune system in vivo, how human
beta cells replicate and regenerate in vivo, how human autoreactive
cells develop in a human diabetes-susceptible immune system, and how a
human immune system targets and kills beta cells in vivo. These
approaches are allowing us to understand and dissect mechanisms
important in human T1D that cannot be studied directly in humans.
Moreover, because these mice readily accept human cells and tissues, we
are now using them to study human regenerative medicine, immunity,
human-specific infectious agents and cancer."
Those of you who
know me well know that my vegetarian soft-heart struggles with animal
research. You also know that I would have done almost anything to save
Brian, and that if risking the lives of 50 mice could have saved him, I
would have done so in a second.
Next month Dr. Greiner will
be honored as the first recipient of the Dr. Eileen L. Berman and
Stanley I. Berman Foundation Chair Grant to research early detection and
treatment of abdominal cancers including appendicial and peritonial
cancer. He is one of only a few researchers world-wide focusing on
these insidious forms of cancer.
Sadly, it is too late to
help Brian. The cancer struck him so cruelly and left us with no
viable treatments. Dr. Greiner's work, however, can save others from
the same fate. This research can help with early detection, and offer
the promise of new and patient-specific treatment options.
Greiner's work has become my hope. His research has become my charity
of choice. Brian's death was senseless and cruel. If I can help spread
the word about this promising research, and if by spreading the word, I
can help raise funding for this research, then maybe I can be
instrumental in finding a cure. Then maybe Brian's death will not
have been for nothing.
Donations to Dr. Greiner's research can be made to:
The Diabetes Center of Excellence
attn: Lisa Hubacz, Administrator
55 Lake Avenue North, AC2-208
Worcester, MA 01605
Donations marked for cancer research will be earmarked specifically for this project.
Posted by Wormie at 10:51 PM 3 comments


text:
ICNA Relief Receives Disaster Response Truck from APPNA
JAMAICA, New York (August 11, 2011) – In a press release issued today, ICNA Relief, a division of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), thanked APPNA (The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent in North America) for their charitable contribution to the organization.
In a simple but spirited ceremony held at the Birmingham Islamic Society (BIS), Alabama, the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent in North America (APPNA) Chapter President, Khalid Matin handed over the keys of a truck to be used in Disaster Relief Services to Maqsood Ahmad, ICNA Relief USA Executive Director. Ashfaq Taufique, President of BIS, and Jane Aslam, Director, Disaster Relief Services of ICNA Relief USA were also present at the occasion. Dr. Matin gave a brief overview of APPNA services rendered throughout the United States, and expressed confidence in the work ICNA Relief USA is doing in serving Humanity. Br. Maqsood Ahmad thanked the leadership of APPNA for their support and trust in ICNA Relief. He also paid tribute to the leadership of BIS for their generosity and hospitality in facilitating the relief work. He stressed the importance of working as a team and assured the continuation of services while operating under the Islamic principles of care and compassion. President of BIS, Br. Ashfaq thanked both ICNA Relief and APPNA and told that local community will continue to cooperate according to Quranic principle of "Help each other in the matters of virtue and righteousness"
For more info on Birmingham Islamic Center visit: www.bisweb.org and for the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent in North America visit: www.appna.org
The Islamic Circle of North America is a leading American Muslim organization dedicated to the betterment of society through the application of Islamic values. Since 1968, ICNA has worked to build relations between communities by devoting itself to education, outreach, social services and relief efforts.
Islamic Circle of North America
Office: (718) 658-1199


text:
TheOtherSupport@KMI wrote:Not sure what update you're referring to here for the K-Mix? Is it the MIDI channel thing? Or being able to record surround panning directly to the device (never going to happen most likely)?
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text:
Homophobia Elimination May Curb HIV Epidemic
Stigma, discrimination and violence against homosexuals and other people who have same-sex relations, also known as homophobia, and against transgender, transvestite or transexual people, also known as transphobia, are hindering the efforts to curb the HIV epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, a group of United Nations (UN) agencies said today, in anticipation of the observation of the World Day against Homophobia (May 17).
Evidence indicates that these populations are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. But fear of discrimination tends to dissuade people from seeking HIV testing, counseling, care and, when applicable, treatment.
The UN LAC Regional Directors' Group, representing ten UN agencies, funds, programs and UNAIDS Secretariat working in the response to HIV in the Latin American region, has urged national government and civil society to renew efforts to eliminate homophobia and transphobia.
"Stigma, discrimination and violence against homosexual, bisexual and trans people will only stop if society works against it. It is imperative to develop a supportive environment where all people are treated with dignity and respect. All citizens are part of society regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but prejudice and repression have impeded recognition of the rights of sexual minorities, "said Rebecca Grynspan, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on behalf of the group.
"This situation is improving, but not fast enough to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic by 2015, as committed by the governments," said the UNDP director. Within the UN system, UNDP is the lead agency for human rights, gender, and sexual diversity.
According to the UN, the hostility against these groups varies, but homosexual and trans people are frequently insulted, fired from jobs, and barred from community activities. Often they experience discrimination in the health services and are mistreated by the police. Every year there are reports of assaults and homicides motivated by homophobia and transphobia.
Trans people (transsexual, transgender and transvestite persons) face particular challenges, including severe discrimination and harassment in schools. Many are expelled during adolescence and have little chances of getting formal jobs.
The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS will launch the document "UNAIDS: Action Framework: Universal Access for Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transgender People" , which calls for a coordinated and expanded UN response to improve the human rights situation of men who have sex with men and trans people.
"Countries in the region should observe the World Day against Homophobia as a way to strengthen human rights and build up more effective AIDS responses in the region," said Cesar Nunez, UNAIDS regional director for Latin America.
"Discrimination is an act against the essence of human beings. It gravely affects not only those who are directly discriminated against, but also their families and communities," said Marcela Suazo, UNFPA Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. The International day against homophobia gives us the opportunity to create awareness of the problem and take responsibility to eliminate it."
"Hatred against people with different sexual identities or orientations is an assault on life itself and a clear violation of basic human rights, which call on us to avoid distinctions between human beings," said Mirta Roses, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Nils Kastberg, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, endorsed this statement.
The World Day against Homophobia was created by civil society organizations to mark the events of May 17, 1990. On that day, the General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) approved the 10th Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The 10th Revision recognized that "sexual orientation (heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual) by itself is not to be regarded as a disorder." In earlier versions of the Classification, homosexuality had been classified as a "sexual disorder."
"Countries should use May 17 to examine their national legislation and policies, and determine how they can be improved," said Rebecca Grynspan, in the statement, which is also available in YouTube. Examples of countries that have enacted policies or legislation to curb homophobia include, Brazil, which launched "Brazil Without Homophobia" in 2006, a comprehensive effort involving several federal and state agencies; Argentina and El Salvador, which established that health services should no longer tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In 2008, Nicaragua and Panama, the last two countries in Latin America where sex between men was criminalized, revoked such legislation. In the Caribbean, the decriminalization of consensual sex among adults was proposed during the 8th Annual General Meeting of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) last November, but homosexual behavior is still effectively a crime in seven countries.
The Regional Directors Group was created in 2003 to enhance the synergy of the United Nations response to HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is comprised of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Bank. All of these organizations are co-sponsors of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).


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Art Collections Online
The Bay of Naples
JONES, Thomas (1742 - 1803)
Date: 1782
Media: oil on canvas
Size: 103.2 x 156.8 cm
Acquired: 1952; Gift; Mrs Evan-Thomas
Accession Number: NMW A 87
This painting depicts Naples and its bay with Mount Vesuvius in the left background and the Sorrento Peninsula faintly visible on the horizon line. The castel Sant'Elmo and two of the ubiquitous pine trees frame the composition. This classical landscape, inspired by Claude and Wilson, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1784.


text:
The drawstring closure on these plastic logo tote bags lets you close the bag tight. It protects the contents from weather and from spilling out of the bag. Their convenience and ease of use makes them ideal as
Drawstring plastic shopping bags are advantageous because they can be completely closed at the top, unlike other types of promotional plastic shopping bags. Top closures prevent contents from spilling out if the bag is tipped or dropped. It also protects the contents from the elements of weather. Plus, it provides a measure of privacy, preventing others from seeing what's inside the bag.
Drawstring closures are easy to work. It's so simple to open and close a bag with a drawstring that even very young children can operate the closure. (This is one reason why many children's backpacks are made with drawstring closures rather than buttons or zippers.)
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text:
Main Content
Top of the pageActionset
Warfarin is a medicine that helps prevent blood clots. Coumadin is the common brand name for warfarin. Because it prevents clots, it also helps prevent heart attacks, strokes, and other problems caused by blood clots.
It's important to know how to take warfarin safely.
Warfarin causes you to bleed more quickly when you're injured. So be sure to avoid doing things that increase your chances of bleeding. These are the four main steps you need to take:
Regular blood tests will help your doctor make sure you are taking the right amount of warfarin.
Things like an infection or a small change in your diet can change the way warfarin works. So can other medicines that you are taking. That's why regular testing is so important. The tests tell your doctor whether your dose needs to be changed.
Don't change your dose or stop taking warfarin unless your doctor tells you to.
Make these changes in your life to prevent falls:
Make these changes in your home to prevent falls:
Make these changes to prevent injuries:
Taking other medicines along with warfarin can cause a bad reaction. For example, some medicines can change the way warfarin works so you bleed too easily. Or warfarin can change the way the other medicine works.
Talk to your doctor before you start or stop taking any prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, antibiotics, vitamins, or herbal products. If other doctors prescribe something for you, be sure they know that you take warfarin. Here are some examples of medicines that you need to be careful of:
Follow these safety tips for taking medicines:
What to do if you miss a dose of your warfarin
If you miss a dose of warfarin, the best thing to do is call your doctor. He or she can tell you exactly what to do so you don't take too much or too little. That way you'll stay as safe as possible.
But here are some general rules:
Most people who take warfarin can eat normally. But make sure that you don't suddenly eat a lot more or a lot less food that is high in vitamin K than you usually do.
Vitamin K helps your blood to clot so wounds don't bleed too much. Warfarin makes blood clots form more slowly. Suddenly changing the amount of vitamin K you eat each day could keep warfarin from working well.
How to get a steady amount of vitamin K
Foods with vitamin K
Follow these general rules when you take warfarin:
If you are pregnant, do not take warfarin. Warfarin can cause miscarriage or birth defects. If you are taking warfarin, talk to your doctor about how you can prevent pregnancy.
If you think you might be pregnant, call your doctor. If you are pregnant, you will take heparin during your pregnancy.
If you plan on getting pregnant, talk with your doctor. You and your doctor will decide which medicine you will take—warfarin or heparin—while trying to get pregnant.
Call 911 or other emergency services right away if you have:
Call your doctor now or seek immediate medical care if you have any other abnormal bleeding, such as:
If you are injured, apply pressure to stop bleeding. Realize that it will take longer than you are used to for the bleeding to stop. If you can't get the bleeding to stop, call your doctor.
Other Works ConsultedAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2010). Blood Thinner Pills: Your Guide to Using Them Safely (AHRQ Publication No. 09-0086-C). Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Available online: http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/btpills.htm.
Current as of: April 9, 2019
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:E. Gregory Thompson MD - Internal Medicine & Anne C. Poinier MD - Internal Medicine & Martin J. Gabica MD - Family Medicine & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & Jeffrey S. Ginsberg MD - Hematology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content.
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