Gravity and motion

Here we have two different particles in the potential energy field (AKA spacetime). Blue has ten times the mass of red. The force they exert on each other is the inverse square curvature of the field (mass/distance^2), propagated at the speed of causation. How do they move?

Well, assuming a stationary start, they move towards each other. The velocity path they each follow is the sum of the force (acceleration) acting upon them. That propagates as a hyperbola (mass/distance). Here’s what that looks like before the motion starts.

Of course, as they move towards each other, their velocities will increase, and their curves will be gradually compressed in the direction of motion, and stretched out in the opposite direction.

The velocity of a particle is a localized gradient. This gradient has its center at the particle’s mass (which is, of course, subtracted from the potential energy), and is angled down (less potential, more kinetic) in the direction of motion, up in the opposite. The gradient is entirely localized, and does not exist outside the particle’s boundaries (±1 from its center). The combination of this inner energy gradient and the outer curvature is the cause of blue and red shift.

Note that the force acting upon each particle doesn’t care about its mass. The only thing that matters is the curvature of the potential energy field, which is caused by the other particle. But notice how much more the heavier particle curves the field. This causes the lighter particle to accelerate faster than the heavier, and move further before they meet.

Mass curves spacetime. Curvature accelerates mass.

How much does the curvature accelerate the particle? You simply integrate the curvature along the path, and then divide by the time it takes the particle to follow that path. After all, a slower moving particle has more time to be influenced by the curvature than a fast moving one. How do you find the time? Form the particle’s velocity, of course.

The kinetic energy is altered by the path curvature of the potential energy over time. Or, more simply, the momentum gradient is altered by the potential gradient over time.

This is equivalent to the action, which in units is energy multiplied by time (mass * velocity[kinetic] * velocity[potential] * time). Note that in actual use, the mass can often be factored out, because it is both invariant and irrelevant in most cases. (The mass of a satellite doesn’t much affect the motion of the Earth, just as the sun isn’t noticeably perturbed by the orbit of Mars.)

Why does action have the same units as angular momentum? Because what you’re really doing is rotating the angle of the momentum gradient. The principle of least action applies to particles moving in the potential energy field (AKA spacetime) in exactly the same manner as in quantum physics. It is one of the foundations of the equations of general relativity.

Aside 1 - The Heisenberg uncertainty principle shows that the edges of a particle, where the inner kinetic gradient meets the outer potential gradient, are a smooth curve instead of a sharp discontinuity.

Aside 2 - The same principles hold true for the electromagnetic field, except that like charges (those that distort the field’s zero base line in the same direction) repel and opposites attract.

Aside 3 - A stable orbit is that which holds the angle of the momentum gradient constant after one full orbit (which may be different from one rotation). This is a form of quantization.

Copenhagen interpretation delenda est!

Reposted from my substack.

Follow the science!

 The "Science":

“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.”

 - Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet (the premier British medical journal), upon his resignation in 2015

Things have not improved since then.

This is real, published "research" in a "scientific" journal.

How to not water the troops

My son served in a maintenance unit in the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Cavazos (nee Hood). They participated in weeks-long exercises out in the brush of the maneuver areas regularly. They rotated through training cycles at the Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC) for at least one month every year. NTC is in the middle of the Mojave desert in California, by the way.

At no point during his three years in that unit did anyone in his command deliver water or food to the soldiers out in the field. Nobody. Not even once. In three years.

Troopers died out in the desert. They died of dehydration and heat stroke.

And nobody in his command cared. Not the officers. Not the senior enlisted. Nobody. Not even once. In three years. It never even crossed their minds that they should.

One summer at NTC, one of the Observer-Controllers (think of them as referees) took pity on my son’s poor unit of maintainers, and ordered a water buffalo delivered to them. It arrived just before their Company Commander made one of his rare checks on them. “Just what I needed!” Then the Captain stripped down, opened it up, and took a bath in their only potable water source.

https://www.armyproperty.com/Equipment-Info/Pictures/Water-Buffalo.jpg

The troops learned a valuable lesson from all this. They learned they had to fend for themselves. They learned to abandon their posts and drive into town to buy food and water. But most of all, they learned that their leaders were both incompetent and uncaring. Nobody cared if they lived or died. Not even once. In three years.

How to not feed the troops

DOGE uncovered the fact that 60% of the money taken from troops’ pay to feed them was used for “other purposes”. That’s not the half of it.

My son joined the Army in the fall of 2020. Not great timing, but what are you going to do? He went to Basic at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, during the winter of 2020-2021. The “dining facilities” (mess halls) were all closed due to a strike and Covid restrictions. That left all the young troops eating nothing but MREs for their entire time in Basic Training. MREs that were stockpiled in sheds. In Oklahoma. In the winter.

These MREs were frozen solid. That’s not too bad, since every MRE comes with a heater pouch. Just add water, and it will warm everything up. Except that the troops were not allowed to use the heaters, because “Somebody might get hurt!”

So they were reduced to bashing their frozen solid MRE meals with rocks. They smashed the packets with rocks until the frozen food was reduced to bite-seized chunks they could chew. Every meal, every day, for three months.

https://www.labroots.com/trending/plants-and-animals/3774/study-chimpanzees-travel-tools-gather-food

And let us not forget the idiotic masking requirements. The idiocy ran so far as to mandate the wearing of masks during physical training (PT). So, when it rained, the troops were essentially forced to waterboard themselves as they exercised and then ran for miles wearing sodden cloth masks. But that’s a different story.

My son was eventually stationed at Fort Cavazos (nee Hood). His battalion lived in brand new barracks. These barracks were so new, he never once had a valid postal address the three years he was there. Their compound included a nice looking mess hall. Which was open for a grand total of almost four weeks (not in a row!) during the three years he was stationed there. This was the mess hall his pay went to fund. If he wanted to eat anywhere else, he had to pay cash.

Were there other dining facilities on the fort? Yes, indeed there were. There were three others. But only one of them was ever open on any given day, with no schedule posted as to which one it might be. And there was no bus or shuttle service to move troops around. So, during their 90 minute lunch break, he could run 3 miles to the nearest DFAC, only to find it was randomly closed that day. And then he could run back to his duty location, still hungry. (Fort Hood has about 28,000 Soldiers scattered over 332 square miles, by the way.)

When the DFAC was open, it often didn’t have any hot food. Lunch was usually a cold table of deli meat and stale bread.  That's if you could get through the long, long lines to get anything at all.  And that's if they didn't simply run out of food before you got any.

No, of course you’re not allowed to cook in the barracks. Somebody might get hurt!

Troops with cars made pocket money as an on-post Uber service.

The US Army cannot or will not feed the troops or deliver their mail to them on permanent bases on US soil.  Why should we have any faith they can prosecute wars overseas?

How we almost started WWIII in 1989

I served my first enlistment in the US Army at Field Station West Berlin, 1988-1991. That’s a listening post on the highest point in the city, Teufelsberg, one of a pair of large hills made of war rubble. It’s still standing, more or less.

In the spring of 1989, Communism was tottering and preparing to either fall or cover Europe in blood. Nobody knew which way things would go, but everybody was tense.

Inside the Field Station, “the big dick on the hill”, there was a room called the Watch Office. That’s where all the messages between Berlin and the West were handled. Since the Field Station operated round-the-clock, we worked in shifts, plus a “day-ho” staff. The Watch Office usually had a staff of between four and six Soldiers, nominally lead by a Lieutenant, who was never there.

Once upon a time, a young, new Soldier showed up, and was assigned to work in the Watch Office. (No, it wasn’t me. I caused different trouble.) This young Soldier seemed intelligent and eager, so the shift leader, a Staff Sergeant, set him to copying out practice messages. These messages had different standard formats, and were printed out in a binder for reference. The young man diligently began copying out the message. When he would finish one, the NCO would review and critique it, then clear the screen and tell the Soldier to start working on the next one.

Lunchtime eventually rolled around. The young Soldier was busily copying a message, so the NCO and everybody else in the office went to eat. Major fuck-up number 1.

The young soldier eventually finished copying out the practice message, ensured it was correct, then cleared the screen and went to lunch. Leaving the Watch Office empty. Major fuck-up number 2.

This particular message stated that “the balloon had gone up”, the war was on, Group of Soviet Forces - Germany (GSFG) was advancing towards the West German border, and Berlin was under attack.

The “SEND” button was right next to the “CLEAR SCREEN” button. It also cleared the screen. Major fuck-up number 3.

About two minutes later, the phone rang. Nobody was there to answer it. Messages began arriving - and nobody sent receipt codes. And no new messages were being sent out. Field Station Berlin had sent a message stating that WWIII had begun, and then US Forces Berlin went off the air.

7th Army, AKA US Army Europe, activated their “no shit” plans and prepared to go to war. Every single unit activated, fueled up, and started drawing their war stocks of ammunition. 5th Corps requested permission to cross the 1KM DMZ. 7th Corps requested permission to counterattack into Czechoslovakia.

The Corps artillery units tried to pick up their nuclear rounds from the depots, and got into fist fights with the guards there, who had heard nothing at all about the war being on. These guards, you see, were on a completely separate communications system, and had a straight line back to the Pentagon. So they called, and were told that the situation was confused, but no nuclear release had been authorized.

Traffic everywhere was completely snarled up, as different units crossed each others’ paths trying to get to their ammunition stocks and planned positions. This eventually went to the good, as it revealed the flaws in the war plans.

And then everybody from the Watch Office returned form lunch and started transmitting messages again. After a few hours, things in the West calmed down. The Soviets, apparently, had no idea most of this ever happened.

Not too long later, the Staff Sergeant became a Private again.

This day was vividly recalled by everyone I have spoken to who was stationed in West Germany at the time, usually as “The day the First Sergeant looked scared.”

And that’s how, on the eve of peace, US Army Field Station Berlin nearly started World War III.

Who would change old census data, and why?

I've looked at the census data for the town I grew up in (Gahanna). Someone has altered it. I remember quite clearly that in 1970, our town had around 3,500 people. In 1980, it had exactly 18,001. (I used to joke the population was "18 thousand and me.") It was declared the fastest growing municipality in the country (by percentage). I remember when we legally changed from a village (population under 10,000) to a city back in 1976. So there's no way the place had a population of 12,400 in 1970, and we definitely had more than 16,398 in 1980.

So who is going back and altering old census data, and for what purpose?

Space construction checklist

What we need to do, in order, from a logistics and engineering perspective:

1. Build a "truck stop" space station orbiting Earth.
2. Build a space station orbiting the moon.
3. Build a temporary habitat on the moon.
4. Build a permanent habitat in the moon. 
5. Build a space station orbiting Mars.
6. Build a temporary habitat on Mars.
7. Build a permanent habitat in Mars.

You build temporary (ten years?) shelters on the surface, to learn local conditions and techniques.  Then you house the workers for the subsurface phase in the domes.  You make clear up front that this is a very high risk project, and that quite a few people will die along the way.  You pay the workers handsomely, with a healthy bonus for completing a full tour, and a very substantial death gratuity.

Digging tunnels down makes far more sense than trying to build radiation and micro-meteor proof domes on the surface for long-term habitation.