"We're all the same," lectures the Kindergarten teacher to her captive brood.
What a contemptible lie. We're obviously all different, as a cursory look at even just a few people will show. There are only two reasons to push this lie on small children.
1. To teach empathy. If the other kids is just like me, he won't like it when I bite him and take his toy truck.
2. To teach Marxism. We are all the same, equal, interchangeable - everyone everywhere. Where we are not the same, there is disharmony and strife, and the disharmonious counterrevolutionaries must be eliminated.
2a. To teach Marxist nihilism. We are all interchangeable. We are merely cogs in the great machine of society. If any one is out of alignment, it must be repaired removed from the machine. We, each one of us, are replaceable. It is required for the more perfect functioning of the machine. After all, you must be JUST LIKE ME. The architects and mechanics who service the machine and teach us of its ways say so.
2b. To teach Marxist internationalism. We are all the same - you me, that guy over there. Even those people on the other side of the world who don't look like us, talk like us, pray like us, or live like us. Despite the obvious superficial differences, we are truly all the same. Even if they say they are nothing like us - they are just mistaken. They are really just like us. When they say they want to kill us all, that's just talk. They really want to come over here and give us all hugs. After all, we're all the same, so they must be JUST LIKE ME.
2c. To teach Marxist critical theory. We're all the same, really. Those people over there - the ones who wallow in their own filth, rut like animals, and kill and enslave each other as a hobby? I wouldn't do that, and they're JUST LIKE ME. So somebody else must be forcing them to do that. Some evil force must be causing all that misery. Aha! Dead white, western, Christian, probably Anglo men invaded their lands long ago, perverting their beautiful native cultures into this parody of human existence. Why would they do that? They must all have been evil, causing all that death and misery for their own amusement! "Death to the white man!" said the white man. This is taught in our schools, and in our universities. Young people are taught not to believe their lying eyes, that 2+2=5, that facts and logic are deeply racist and sexist. They are taught to conform and agree with authority. "Death to the White Man! Death to Western Imperialism! Death to Christianity! Death to Free Market Capitalism! Death to America! Death!"
2d. To teach Marxist feminism. Women and men are equals, therefore they are the same. I am a woman, so you must behave in all ways like me. But we have all these men not behaving like women. Gay men do, to a degree, and that's why we like them so much. Transvestites behave like us even more. (Some of them are more like a woman than I am, those bitches.) Men must be defective women, because they are terrible at being JUST LIKE ME. That's bad. Men have to be adjusted and corrected. Then again, do we really need the men? I have all these other women around to keep me company, and to share my bed at night. Men are icky. Sex is icky. Sex is rape, because although we're all equal and the same, and I am a powerful woman, men have all the power, and I can't make decisions or stand up for myself, poor, poor, helpless, powerful me.
So, the next time you hear someone comparing two different groups of people on the same terms, remember what they're trying to sell you.
Men are not the same as women. Blacks are not the same as whites. Mexicans are not the same as Haitians are not the same as Americans. Muslims are not the same as Christians. New Guinean tribal headhunters are not the same as the Amish. We are not all just the same.
Marxists (progressives, liberals, communists, socialists, Fabians, social democrats, whatever they're calling themselves this week) do not have our best interests at heart. They believe in a wicked religion (Marxism is a religion, not a method of economics), which like Islam, must spread to encompass the whole world. Their god commands them to. All unbelievers will be offered a choice of conversion or death. Some unbelievers, more useful and compliant than others, will be kept as slaves or highly regulated serfs.
This is why Marxism and Islam get along so well. They share similar goals and methods, and their belief systems are somewhat compatible. Naturally, when they have jointly conquered the world, each will struggle to overthrow the other, but that is a concern for the far future. For now, they both chant "Death to America! Death!"
"We can forgive [them] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them
from forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with
[them] when they love their children more than they hate us." - Golda Meir.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
I can't make it work
FTL -Faster than light travel. I can't make it work. I thought I had an idea, but the math doesn't work out. Walk with me. The thought structure went like this.
Outside a black hole, space-time uses real number for the proximity of one bit of space-time to another. This is limited by the speed of light (C, defined in units equating it to 1) to being a number between C (theoretical, requires the complete absence of all gravity) and 0. 0 is what you get at the event horizon of a black hole - space and time appear to come to a halt. Inside a black hole, the proximity is measured using imaginary numbers. As the gravity increases, the imaginary number gets larger arbitrarily, eventually making the inside of a black hole larger than the outside.
Review - The controlling equation is gravity squared plus space-time proximity equals C.
As G exceeds 1, t drops below zero and takes on imaginary values. As G surpasses the square root of two, t must surpass 1i to balance the equation. The speed of light remains constant, but the nature of space-time constantly changes. What does this really look like? No way to tell without experimentation - and I'm not planning on volunteering.
So, I pondered, if we can use imaginary numbers to represent space-time inside a black hole, might there be some way to use that principle outside the black hole? You can't exceed the speed of light, but could you, just possibly, change the apparent speed of light by altering the properties of local space-time?
I started down this road of thought, imagining how time would accelerate for the traveler in relation to those left behind, and how this could be carefully compensated for by increasing the traveler's speed to slow down their rate of time to match. That's when I started reviewing the math, and encountered the error in the system.
Complex numbers would be required. That doesn't seem to work in normal space. And anyways, when you square a complex number, you get another complex number. It doesn't simplify into a real like an imaginary number does.
Even if you could balance the equation by using complex gravity (I'm not certain this is mathematically possible), what the heck would that even look like? Where would it come from? It's entirely too much handwavium. Even inside a supermassive black hole, gravity is still measured in real numbers, not imaginary, much less complex.
This realization burst the bubble of my glorious dream of fast interstellar travel. Stupid, unforgiving math.
Outside a black hole, space-time uses real number for the proximity of one bit of space-time to another. This is limited by the speed of light (C, defined in units equating it to 1) to being a number between C (theoretical, requires the complete absence of all gravity) and 0. 0 is what you get at the event horizon of a black hole - space and time appear to come to a halt. Inside a black hole, the proximity is measured using imaginary numbers. As the gravity increases, the imaginary number gets larger arbitrarily, eventually making the inside of a black hole larger than the outside.
Review - The controlling equation is gravity squared plus space-time proximity equals C.
As G exceeds 1, t drops below zero and takes on imaginary values. As G surpasses the square root of two, t must surpass 1i to balance the equation. The speed of light remains constant, but the nature of space-time constantly changes. What does this really look like? No way to tell without experimentation - and I'm not planning on volunteering.
So, I pondered, if we can use imaginary numbers to represent space-time inside a black hole, might there be some way to use that principle outside the black hole? You can't exceed the speed of light, but could you, just possibly, change the apparent speed of light by altering the properties of local space-time?
I started down this road of thought, imagining how time would accelerate for the traveler in relation to those left behind, and how this could be carefully compensated for by increasing the traveler's speed to slow down their rate of time to match. That's when I started reviewing the math, and encountered the error in the system.
Complex numbers would be required. That doesn't seem to work in normal space. And anyways, when you square a complex number, you get another complex number. It doesn't simplify into a real like an imaginary number does.
Even if you could balance the equation by using complex gravity (I'm not certain this is mathematically possible), what the heck would that even look like? Where would it come from? It's entirely too much handwavium. Even inside a supermassive black hole, gravity is still measured in real numbers, not imaginary, much less complex.
This realization burst the bubble of my glorious dream of fast interstellar travel. Stupid, unforgiving math.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Paris
This is the true face of Islam.
Believe them when they say they hate us, that they want us to die.
Excerpts from the Quran, Chapter 9:
[5] Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
[41] Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.
[52] Say: Can ye await for us aught save one of two good things (death or victory in Allah's way)? while we await for you that Allah will afflict you with a doom from Him or at our hands. Await then! Lo! We are awaiting with you.
[55] So let not their riches nor their children please thee (O Muhammad). Allah thereby intendeth but to punish them in the life of the world and that their souls shall pass away while they are disbelievers.
From Surah 5:
[33] The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom; [34] Save those who repent before ye overpower them. For know that Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. [35] O ye who believe! Be mindful of your duty to Allah, and seek the way of approach unto Him, and strive in His way in order that ye may succeed. [36] As for those who disbelieve, lo! if all that is in the earth were theirs, and as much again therewith, to ransom them from the doom on the Day of Resurrection, it would not be accepted from them. Theirs will be a painful doom.
From Surah 8:
[9] When ye sought help of your Lord and He answered you (saying): I will help you with a thousand of the angels, rank on rank.
[10] Allah appointed it only as good tidings, and that your hearts thereby might be at rest. Victory cometh only by the help of Allah. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise.
[11] When He made the slumber fall upon you as a reassurance from him and sent down water from the sky upon you, that thereby He might purify you, and remove from you the fear of Satan, and make strong your hearts and firm (your) feet thereby.
[12] When thy Lord inspired the angels, (saying): I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger.
[13] That is because they opposed Allah and His messenger. Whoso opposeth Allah and His messenger, (for him) lo! Allah is severe in punishment.
[14] That (is the award), so taste it, and (know) that for disbelievers is the torment of the Fire.
From Surah 47:
[1] Those who disbelieve and turn (men) from the way of Allah, He rendereth their actions vain.
[2] And those who believe and do good works and believe in that which is revealed unto Muhammad - and it is the truth from their Lord - He riddeth them of their ill-deeds and improveth their state.
[3] That is because those who disbelieve follow falsehood and because those who believe follow the truth from their Lord. Thus Allah coineth their similitudes for mankind.
[4] Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens. That (is the ordinance). And if Allah willed He could have punished them (without you) but (thus it is ordained) that He may try some of you by means of others. And those who are slain in the way of Allah, He rendereth not their actions vain.
Believe them when they say they hate us, that they want us to die.
Excerpts from the Quran, Chapter 9:
[5] Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
[41] Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.
[52] Say: Can ye await for us aught save one of two good things (death or victory in Allah's way)? while we await for you that Allah will afflict you with a doom from Him or at our hands. Await then! Lo! We are awaiting with you.
[55] So let not their riches nor their children please thee (O Muhammad). Allah thereby intendeth but to punish them in the life of the world and that their souls shall pass away while they are disbelievers.
From Surah 5:
[33] The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom; [34] Save those who repent before ye overpower them. For know that Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. [35] O ye who believe! Be mindful of your duty to Allah, and seek the way of approach unto Him, and strive in His way in order that ye may succeed. [36] As for those who disbelieve, lo! if all that is in the earth were theirs, and as much again therewith, to ransom them from the doom on the Day of Resurrection, it would not be accepted from them. Theirs will be a painful doom.
From Surah 8:
[9] When ye sought help of your Lord and He answered you (saying): I will help you with a thousand of the angels, rank on rank.
[10] Allah appointed it only as good tidings, and that your hearts thereby might be at rest. Victory cometh only by the help of Allah. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise.
[11] When He made the slumber fall upon you as a reassurance from him and sent down water from the sky upon you, that thereby He might purify you, and remove from you the fear of Satan, and make strong your hearts and firm (your) feet thereby.
[12] When thy Lord inspired the angels, (saying): I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger.
[13] That is because they opposed Allah and His messenger. Whoso opposeth Allah and His messenger, (for him) lo! Allah is severe in punishment.
[14] That (is the award), so taste it, and (know) that for disbelievers is the torment of the Fire.
From Surah 47:
[1] Those who disbelieve and turn (men) from the way of Allah, He rendereth their actions vain.
[2] And those who believe and do good works and believe in that which is revealed unto Muhammad - and it is the truth from their Lord - He riddeth them of their ill-deeds and improveth their state.
[3] That is because those who disbelieve follow falsehood and because those who believe follow the truth from their Lord. Thus Allah coineth their similitudes for mankind.
[4] Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens. That (is the ordinance). And if Allah willed He could have punished them (without you) but (thus it is ordained) that He may try some of you by means of others. And those who are slain in the way of Allah, He rendereth not their actions vain.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
FTL travel?
There is no way to travel at a speed faster than that of light.
But what if that speed is varies by the properties of local space.
This is the loophole that holds out a possibility of effectively-FTL travel.
To review - gravity warps space-time by increasing its density - the higher the gravity, the more dense space-time becomes. This goes until you reach the edge of a black hole - where spacetime becomes infinitely dense. (Effectively, fluid space-time becomes a solid at the event horizon.)
Outside a black hole, spacetime is measured with real numbers. Inside, you have to use complex numbers, as the gravity increases beyond the limits of the speed of light. Review - with the speed of light, C, the relationship between gravity G and spacetime density D (lower is more dense in this scale) becomes G squared plus D squared = C squared. With units chosen to make the speed of light 1, this simplifies to G^2 + D^2 = 1, or D = Sqrt(1 - G^2). This means that when G>1 (as it does inside an event boundary), D must begin using complex numbers. As G increases to 1.414... the complex value approaches 1 (the density of normal spacetime in the absence of gravity distortions), and then exponentially surpasses it. This means that the density of spacetime, in the presence of sufficient gravity, is less than that of spacetime in the absence of gravity, and this lack of density increases exponentially as the gravity increases. So, light would travel exponentially faster in these regions.
Black holes keep getting bigger on the inside as their gravity increases. The speed of light is constant, but the local spacetime properties change with gravity, to make it effectively faster or slower.
What can we do with this? Traveling across the inside of a black hole towards its center would seem to have very little utility. But, theoretically, if the density of spacetime can take an imaginary component somewhere, it could have an imaginary component anywhere. And that's where we come to effectively-FTL travel.
But what if that speed is varies by the properties of local space.
This is the loophole that holds out a possibility of effectively-FTL travel.
To review - gravity warps space-time by increasing its density - the higher the gravity, the more dense space-time becomes. This goes until you reach the edge of a black hole - where spacetime becomes infinitely dense. (Effectively, fluid space-time becomes a solid at the event horizon.)
Outside a black hole, spacetime is measured with real numbers. Inside, you have to use complex numbers, as the gravity increases beyond the limits of the speed of light. Review - with the speed of light, C, the relationship between gravity G and spacetime density D (lower is more dense in this scale) becomes G squared plus D squared = C squared. With units chosen to make the speed of light 1, this simplifies to G^2 + D^2 = 1, or D = Sqrt(1 - G^2). This means that when G>1 (as it does inside an event boundary), D must begin using complex numbers. As G increases to 1.414... the complex value approaches 1 (the density of normal spacetime in the absence of gravity distortions), and then exponentially surpasses it. This means that the density of spacetime, in the presence of sufficient gravity, is less than that of spacetime in the absence of gravity, and this lack of density increases exponentially as the gravity increases. So, light would travel exponentially faster in these regions.
Black holes keep getting bigger on the inside as their gravity increases. The speed of light is constant, but the local spacetime properties change with gravity, to make it effectively faster or slower.
What can we do with this? Traveling across the inside of a black hole towards its center would seem to have very little utility. But, theoretically, if the density of spacetime can take an imaginary component somewhere, it could have an imaginary component anywhere. And that's where we come to effectively-FTL travel.
If some means could be found to make a portion of normal (real number) spacetime exhibit the properties of complex spacetime, in a controllable fashion, we would have discovered an alternate reality similar to Star Trek's® subspace, where the speed of light would be warped to seem faster.
There doesn't seem to be any easy way to do this - after all, if it were easy, we would probably notice it happening somewhere. Unless you count ghostly apparitions and spirits as being able to transit through complex space, this sort of behavior is simply unobserved in everyday life. And I don't know of any way to predict what the physical laws would be like in a universe ruled by complex numbers.
Hopefully, some clever engineer will figure out how to do this someday, and we could then journey to other stars in less than a lifetime.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Fred hits it with both barrels
I know I'm not the best of writers, so I'll just let Fred comment on this. He's much more entertaining (while being informative) than I will probably ever be. He's spent a lifetime writing, after all.
http://fredoneverything.org/a-literate-american-home-brew/
How about another take on the subject? This time by an actual teacher.
http://www.amren.com/features/2014/09/all-i-really-need-to-know-about-race-i-learned-teaching-in-kindergarten/
And here's what Wikipedia (that bastion of conservative thought - not) has to say on the subject of racial IQ differences.
------
North East Asians have tended to score relatively higher on visuospatial subtests with lower scores in verbal subtests while Ashkenazi Jews score higher in verbal and reasoning subtests with lower scores in visuospatial subtests. The few Amerindian populations who have been systematically tested, including Arctic Natives, tend to score worse on average than white populations but better on average than black populations.[47]
The racial groups studied in the United States and Europe are not necessarily representative samples for populations in other parts of the world. Cultural differences may also factor in IQ test performance and outcomes. Therefore, results in the United States and Europe do not necessarily correlate to results in other populations.[48]
------
How about a picture? Below are the racial IQ distributions. Again from Wikipedia - "Mental deficiency used to be divided into the following sub-classifications, but these labels began to be abused by the public and are now largely obsolete: Borderline Deficiency (IQ 70-80), Moron (IQ 50-69), Imbecile (IQ 20-49) and Idiot (below 20). Mental deficiency is now generally called mental retardation."
Note that even with the optimistic mean IQ of 85, 37% of American Blacks have an IQ of 80 or less, and fully one in six are legally retarded.
Progressives claim to want to have a "conversation on race," but what they really want to do is tell everybody to shut up their filthy 'lying' mouths and stop talking about this reality crap. They can't handle the truth. Speaking the truth to a progressive is like throwing open the curtains and letting the sun shine upon a vampire. Except not as effective, because they don't burst into flames and die - they simple ignore inconvenient truths in favor of obeying the narrative of the moment.
But the people listening in will see who uses facts and rational argument, and who acts like a spoiled 3 year old throwing a tantrum when they don't hear the answer they were expecting.
The truth shall make you free. Embrace the power of telling a progressive "I don't care." when they talk about hurt feelings.
After all, progressives, er, SJW's always lie.
http://www.amazon.com/SJWs-Always-Lie-Taking-Thought-ebook/dp/B014GMBUR4
http://fredoneverything.org/a-literate-american-home-brew/
How about another take on the subject? This time by an actual teacher.
http://www.amren.com/features/2014/09/all-i-really-need-to-know-about-race-i-learned-teaching-in-kindergarten/
And here's what Wikipedia (that bastion of conservative thought - not) has to say on the subject of racial IQ differences.
------
United States test scores
Main article: Achievement gap in the United States
Rushton & Jensen (2005) wrote that, in the United States,
self-identified blacks and whites have been the subjects of the
greatest number of studies. They stated that the black-white IQ
difference is about 15 to 18 points or 1 to 1.1 standard deviations
(SDs), which implies that between 11 and 16 percent of the black
population have an IQ above 100 (the general population median).
According to Arthur Jensen and J. Philippe Rushton the black-white IQ
difference is largest on those components of IQ tests that are claimed
best to represent the general intelligence factor g.[44] The 1996 APA report "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" and the 1994 editorial statement "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" gave more or less similar estimates.[45][46] Roth et al. (2001),
in a review of the results of a total of 6,246,729 participants on
other tests of cognitive ability or aptitude, found a difference in mean
IQ scores between blacks and whites of 1.1 SD. Consistent results were
found for college and university application tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (N = 2.4 million) and Graduate Record Examination
(N = 2.3 million), as well as for tests of job applicants in corporate
sections (N = 0.5 million) and in the military (N = 0.4 million).[47]North East Asians have tended to score relatively higher on visuospatial subtests with lower scores in verbal subtests while Ashkenazi Jews score higher in verbal and reasoning subtests with lower scores in visuospatial subtests. The few Amerindian populations who have been systematically tested, including Arctic Natives, tend to score worse on average than white populations but better on average than black populations.[47]
The racial groups studied in the United States and Europe are not necessarily representative samples for populations in other parts of the world. Cultural differences may also factor in IQ test performance and outcomes. Therefore, results in the United States and Europe do not necessarily correlate to results in other populations.[48]
------
How about a picture? Below are the racial IQ distributions. Again from Wikipedia - "Mental deficiency used to be divided into the following sub-classifications, but these labels began to be abused by the public and are now largely obsolete: Borderline Deficiency (IQ 70-80), Moron (IQ 50-69), Imbecile (IQ 20-49) and Idiot (below 20). Mental deficiency is now generally called mental retardation."
Note that even with the optimistic mean IQ of 85, 37% of American Blacks have an IQ of 80 or less, and fully one in six are legally retarded.
Progressives claim to want to have a "conversation on race," but what they really want to do is tell everybody to shut up their filthy 'lying' mouths and stop talking about this reality crap. They can't handle the truth. Speaking the truth to a progressive is like throwing open the curtains and letting the sun shine upon a vampire. Except not as effective, because they don't burst into flames and die - they simple ignore inconvenient truths in favor of obeying the narrative of the moment.
But the people listening in will see who uses facts and rational argument, and who acts like a spoiled 3 year old throwing a tantrum when they don't hear the answer they were expecting.
The truth shall make you free. Embrace the power of telling a progressive "I don't care." when they talk about hurt feelings.
After all, progressives, er, SJW's always lie.
http://www.amazon.com/SJWs-Always-Lie-Taking-Thought-ebook/dp/B014GMBUR4
Friday, October 23, 2015
Constitution 2.0?
Obviously, the US Constitution has problems. How obvious? Well, both the Executive and the Judiciary have usurped the role of the Legislative branch, and the legislators don't seen to be able or willing to regain their own power and limit the other branches. That, and the march of the enemies of freedom through the institutions, by using our freedoms against us as weapons.
My thought is the primary problem in the Constitution is the lack of a mandatory enforcement mechanism. How to accomplish this? That goes back to the old adage of Who Watches the Watchmen. If you create a Praetorian Guard, what you end up with is a Praetorian Guard, with all its good and ills.
In the American spirit, where power flows from the people to their representatives, the power to oppose the excesses of the government must come from the people, and through them acting collectively as the several States.
Proposition 1. The Congress holds all legislative power, and may not delegate this power. No executive office or agency may make laws, regulations, or decisions that hold the force of law. The Executive may recommend alterations or additions to the law, which may then be considered by congress.
Proposition 2. No court may alter or invent a law, but may wholly abolish laws found to be unconstitutional. No executive office or agency may adjudicate cases of law.
Proposition 3. All laws passed by Congress must go before the Supreme Court for constitutional review prior to being submitted to the President. The Court may approve or veto a law, but may not alter it.
Proposition 4. Each law passed must then be approved by a majority of the Governors of the several States.
Proposition 5. A majority of 2/3 of the Governors of the several States, acting in the same calendar year, may override any ruling of the Supreme Court or veto by the President, or abolish any standing law, or remove from office any appointed official or judge, or void any treaty.
Proposition 6. Every State shall each year conduct a lottery among its citizenry, to select one who may challenge their Representative to a duel, to be conducted on the grounds of the Statehouse, each July 4th. The citizen is also granted the choice of weapon - knife, sword, or pistol.
{This one is my favorite. It raises money for the States, and eventually enforces term limits. It also ensures that the Representatives have the courage of their convictions. And it's darkly humorous.}
Proposition 7. The 17th Amendment is repealed.
Proposition 8. The United States is an explicitly Christian nation, and we welcome our brothers the Jews. No person who is not a Christian or a Jew may hold any public elected or appointed office. All other religions which are compatible with Christianity and Judaism are welcome, and may become citizens with the right to vote. Islam is not compatible with Christianity or Judaism, and its practice and proselytism are specifically banned from the United States and its territories.
Proposition 9. The United States is based on the concepts of individual justice, freedom, and responsibility, with a free-market economy. Communism, socialism, and all other forms of Marxist collectivism are explicitly prohibited, as they deny the existence of the free market, and are in direct opposition to our fundamental principles.
Proposition 10. Government exists to protect the lives and property of the people. As such, all public takings of private property must be as allowed by law, and must be approved by recorded vote in each of three consecutive years before taking effect. In addition, the rightful owners of any private property taken by such action must be reimbursed at three times the assessed value of the property, based on the highest assessed value in the ten year period prior to the taking.
Proposition 11. All bills and acts must originate in the House of Representatives.
My thought is the primary problem in the Constitution is the lack of a mandatory enforcement mechanism. How to accomplish this? That goes back to the old adage of Who Watches the Watchmen. If you create a Praetorian Guard, what you end up with is a Praetorian Guard, with all its good and ills.
In the American spirit, where power flows from the people to their representatives, the power to oppose the excesses of the government must come from the people, and through them acting collectively as the several States.
Proposition 1. The Congress holds all legislative power, and may not delegate this power. No executive office or agency may make laws, regulations, or decisions that hold the force of law. The Executive may recommend alterations or additions to the law, which may then be considered by congress.
Proposition 2. No court may alter or invent a law, but may wholly abolish laws found to be unconstitutional. No executive office or agency may adjudicate cases of law.
Proposition 3. All laws passed by Congress must go before the Supreme Court for constitutional review prior to being submitted to the President. The Court may approve or veto a law, but may not alter it.
Proposition 4. Each law passed must then be approved by a majority of the Governors of the several States.
Proposition 5. A majority of 2/3 of the Governors of the several States, acting in the same calendar year, may override any ruling of the Supreme Court or veto by the President, or abolish any standing law, or remove from office any appointed official or judge, or void any treaty.
Proposition 6. Every State shall each year conduct a lottery among its citizenry, to select one who may challenge their Representative to a duel, to be conducted on the grounds of the Statehouse, each July 4th. The citizen is also granted the choice of weapon - knife, sword, or pistol.
{This one is my favorite. It raises money for the States, and eventually enforces term limits. It also ensures that the Representatives have the courage of their convictions. And it's darkly humorous.}
Proposition 7. The 17th Amendment is repealed.
Proposition 8. The United States is an explicitly Christian nation, and we welcome our brothers the Jews. No person who is not a Christian or a Jew may hold any public elected or appointed office. All other religions which are compatible with Christianity and Judaism are welcome, and may become citizens with the right to vote. Islam is not compatible with Christianity or Judaism, and its practice and proselytism are specifically banned from the United States and its territories.
Proposition 9. The United States is based on the concepts of individual justice, freedom, and responsibility, with a free-market economy. Communism, socialism, and all other forms of Marxist collectivism are explicitly prohibited, as they deny the existence of the free market, and are in direct opposition to our fundamental principles.
Proposition 10. Government exists to protect the lives and property of the people. As such, all public takings of private property must be as allowed by law, and must be approved by recorded vote in each of three consecutive years before taking effect. In addition, the rightful owners of any private property taken by such action must be reimbursed at three times the assessed value of the property, based on the highest assessed value in the ten year period prior to the taking.
Proposition 11. All bills and acts must originate in the House of Representatives.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Scientific malunderstanding
A 'few' years back, I got out of the Army after my 4 year tour in West Berlin. I went home, and went back to college. (I had dropped out after my first year as a physics major to join the Army, because what I really wanted was to go fight the communists.) I went back to the college of engineering, and studied computer programming at Big State University.
In the two and a half years I stayed in college that time, I learned something about programming exactly twice. The first time was when I was introduced to the concept of trees, from whence most other computing concepts flow. The second was a class where, in 10 weeks, we worked in teams to create virtual computers, with operating system, assembly language, and a linker-loader. All of this had to be properly documented in comments and with paper user guides. We also had to make a useful program run on the machine using the assembly language. Also properly documented. Did I mention that we did this in pairs, and in only 10 weeks? While taking other classes and working. I had to learn C programming over the first weekend to even start work on the project.
I told you that story to tell you this one. Most classes in a university don't really teach much of anything useful. In the Army, I had been a signals intercept analyst. I helped intercept Warsaw Pact transmissions, and took them apart to see what made them tick. It was challenging, and a lot of fun. I finished my four years as one of the top ten in the field - I was considered a rising star. And then we all got let go by the 'peace dividend.'
When I was wandering around the engineering college, I interacted with the other geeks there, especially in the electronics departments. When I asked them about electronic signals, they immediately started writing down math that I frankly couldn't understand.
Then I asked them what it actually was that they were writing formulas for - and they just gave me blank looks. They had no idea. They had never even though of the formulas as describing actual things. The students studying advanced electronic signalling concepts had no idea how to work an oscilloscope or a spectrum analyzer. They had no idea what the wave forms actually looked like on paper or on a screen. They just understood the math, as completely divorced from the reality of the thing.
I saw this later with other engineers, as did my father in law. The young mechanical engineers he worked with had no idea what anything really was. They just knew how to do the math and work the simulators. They had no idea about practical tests, or even what some of the tools were, much less how to use them.
This is a general problem I see in science, lo these last few years (decades). It has become so focused on the math, the formulas, the simulations, that they have forgotten to take the step back, look up, and really see what it is they're supposed to be working on.
That's why string theory has taken up decades of work of hundreds (if not thousands) of physicists, and produced nothing but new fields of abstract mathematical inquiry.
In this blog, I have learned for myself the basic principles of special and general relativity. I don't claim to be able to do the advanced math. (I'm working on it - I just got a book on how to do matrix algebra.) But I can follow the logic and the ideas to natural conclusions. Not because I can do the math - in many cases, I can't. But I can see it all in my head, the interrelations, and how it all works together. I can see the big picture that they are trying to encode, bit by bit, as a jpeg file. They see a vast field of numbers and complex formulae. I see a beautiful, simple, powerful picture.
In the two and a half years I stayed in college that time, I learned something about programming exactly twice. The first time was when I was introduced to the concept of trees, from whence most other computing concepts flow. The second was a class where, in 10 weeks, we worked in teams to create virtual computers, with operating system, assembly language, and a linker-loader. All of this had to be properly documented in comments and with paper user guides. We also had to make a useful program run on the machine using the assembly language. Also properly documented. Did I mention that we did this in pairs, and in only 10 weeks? While taking other classes and working. I had to learn C programming over the first weekend to even start work on the project.
I told you that story to tell you this one. Most classes in a university don't really teach much of anything useful. In the Army, I had been a signals intercept analyst. I helped intercept Warsaw Pact transmissions, and took them apart to see what made them tick. It was challenging, and a lot of fun. I finished my four years as one of the top ten in the field - I was considered a rising star. And then we all got let go by the 'peace dividend.'
When I was wandering around the engineering college, I interacted with the other geeks there, especially in the electronics departments. When I asked them about electronic signals, they immediately started writing down math that I frankly couldn't understand.
Then I asked them what it actually was that they were writing formulas for - and they just gave me blank looks. They had no idea. They had never even though of the formulas as describing actual things. The students studying advanced electronic signalling concepts had no idea how to work an oscilloscope or a spectrum analyzer. They had no idea what the wave forms actually looked like on paper or on a screen. They just understood the math, as completely divorced from the reality of the thing.
I saw this later with other engineers, as did my father in law. The young mechanical engineers he worked with had no idea what anything really was. They just knew how to do the math and work the simulators. They had no idea about practical tests, or even what some of the tools were, much less how to use them.
This is a general problem I see in science, lo these last few years (decades). It has become so focused on the math, the formulas, the simulations, that they have forgotten to take the step back, look up, and really see what it is they're supposed to be working on.
That's why string theory has taken up decades of work of hundreds (if not thousands) of physicists, and produced nothing but new fields of abstract mathematical inquiry.
In this blog, I have learned for myself the basic principles of special and general relativity. I don't claim to be able to do the advanced math. (I'm working on it - I just got a book on how to do matrix algebra.) But I can follow the logic and the ideas to natural conclusions. Not because I can do the math - in many cases, I can't. But I can see it all in my head, the interrelations, and how it all works together. I can see the big picture that they are trying to encode, bit by bit, as a jpeg file. They see a vast field of numbers and complex formulae. I see a beautiful, simple, powerful picture.
Dark energy? I don't think so.
'Dark Energy' is the term used to explain the force that is making the univeral expansion accelerate. According to recorded red shifts, the universe is expanding. Not only is it expanding, but the rate of expansion is accelerating. There must be some unexplained force causing this, but nobody can detect or understand this force. So physicists cal it 'dark energy,' because they can't find it.
Hogwash.
The acceleration of the rate of expansion of the universe is clearly predicted by General Relativity. It's quite simple, really. The only reason modern physicists haven't figured it out is because they steadfastly refuse to accept the basic principle laid out in general relativity - that Space-time is a thing, it is shaped by gravity, and gravity is infinitely fast. It makes them think of aether and phlogiston, so they shy away from it.
Space-time is a thing. This is a natural result of general relativity and Einstein's field equations. They show that space-time has properties, that those properties change with the application of time and outside forces (mass causing gravity), and that it influences the behavior of other things (motion of particles). This is pretty much the definition of a thing.
Space-time can be easily thought of as a fluid. Density of matter causes increases in the gravity field, which cause changes in the density (curvature) of space-time. Time points in the direction of increased gravity. Space and time both contract as gravity increases. The both expand as gravity lessens. Thought of as a fluid, the inverse of the gravitic Lorenz factor is the temperature. The higher the gravity, the colder and more dense the fluid becomes. The lesser the gravity, the hotter and less dense the fluid becomes. (Incidentally, this density analogy also works perfectly to explain apparent time and space contraction with velocity - the local density rises as speed rises, like a bow wave.) The event horizon of a black hole can be thought of as the point at which fluid space-time changes phase and becomes a solid.
This clearly implies that in regions with lower gravity, time runs faster, and space is less dense. Consider the implications for the universe as a whole. Less dense areas flow faster through time. If the entire universe is expanding, this means that the voids between galaxies are expanding faster than the areas in and around the galaxies themselves. As the universe expands, the voids become larger, and the difference between the rate of time in the voids and in the galaxies inexorably increases, speeding the expansion of the voids. This appears to us as a slow acceleration of the rate of expansion over time.
No 'dark' force is required to explain why the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing. It simply flows from the principles of general relativity.
Hogwash.
The acceleration of the rate of expansion of the universe is clearly predicted by General Relativity. It's quite simple, really. The only reason modern physicists haven't figured it out is because they steadfastly refuse to accept the basic principle laid out in general relativity - that Space-time is a thing, it is shaped by gravity, and gravity is infinitely fast. It makes them think of aether and phlogiston, so they shy away from it.
Space-time is a thing. This is a natural result of general relativity and Einstein's field equations. They show that space-time has properties, that those properties change with the application of time and outside forces (mass causing gravity), and that it influences the behavior of other things (motion of particles). This is pretty much the definition of a thing.
Space-time can be easily thought of as a fluid. Density of matter causes increases in the gravity field, which cause changes in the density (curvature) of space-time. Time points in the direction of increased gravity. Space and time both contract as gravity increases. The both expand as gravity lessens. Thought of as a fluid, the inverse of the gravitic Lorenz factor is the temperature. The higher the gravity, the colder and more dense the fluid becomes. The lesser the gravity, the hotter and less dense the fluid becomes. (Incidentally, this density analogy also works perfectly to explain apparent time and space contraction with velocity - the local density rises as speed rises, like a bow wave.) The event horizon of a black hole can be thought of as the point at which fluid space-time changes phase and becomes a solid.
This clearly implies that in regions with lower gravity, time runs faster, and space is less dense. Consider the implications for the universe as a whole. Less dense areas flow faster through time. If the entire universe is expanding, this means that the voids between galaxies are expanding faster than the areas in and around the galaxies themselves. As the universe expands, the voids become larger, and the difference between the rate of time in the voids and in the galaxies inexorably increases, speeding the expansion of the voids. This appears to us as a slow acceleration of the rate of expansion over time.
No 'dark' force is required to explain why the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing. It simply flows from the principles of general relativity.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Relatively Simple
Relativistic time and
space dilation made easy
Relativistic time and space dilation seems like a difficult
and complicated topic to comprehend.
It’s not. It’s actually quite
simple. I have no idea why scientists
and textbooks make it seem difficult.
The following is my simplified explanation, requiring nothing beyond a
knowledge of high school algebra and geometry.
Relativity – the study of space-time in relation to speed and gravity.
Space and time are really the same thing. The exact same thing. Accept it, because it’s true. They are inseparable parts of the whole of reality. To cross a certain amount of space, you need
a certain amount of time. Given a
certain amount of time, you can cross a certain amount of space. It is somewhat mistaken to even call them separate
things, so they are referred to collectively as space-time.
Nothing moves faster than light in a vacuum because it moves
at the fastest speed possible – the rate of one unit of space per one unit of
time. Light can do this because it has
no mass, and is a special case.
The perception of space time shifts as a particle changes
speeds. (I speak of speed rather than
velocity because, for general purposes, the direction it is traveling does not
matter – just the scalar of it’s speed.)
The faster the particle travels, the smaller space appears to it, the
the slower time seems to pass for it.
This, as a particle speeds up, space-time appears to shrink. This has a limit at the speed of light –
where time appears to stop, and space appears to shrink down to
nothingness. After all, if there is no
time passing, no distance can be traversed.
Please keep in mind that this is the perspective of the particle itself
– in reality, it is moving amazingly quickly across vast expanses of space.
The formulas used to describe the dilation of space-time by
speed are based on the Lorenz factor:
y=1/sqrt(1 - (v^2 / c^2))
Where v is velocity (speed) and c is the
speed of light. This can be simplified
greatly if we choose to use the ‘natural units’ where c = 1, and measure v in
terms of c. This results in:
y=1/sqrt(1 - v^2)
Of course, what this results in is a multiplier
– how much slower time seems to pass, how much shorter space seems to get. This can be simplified greatly by inverting
it: what fraction of ‘normal’ space time
is the perceived space-time? This
inversion results in the following:
t=sqrt(1 - v^2)
Where 't’ is the perceived length of
space-time as a fraction of ‘true’ space-time, and v is the speed as a fraction
of the speed of light. If this looks
familiar, it’s because it is. It’s the
solution to how to graph a circle.
y=sqrt(1 - x^2)
Which, of course, derives from a much
more recognizable formula (assuming a center at origin (0,0) for simplicity):
x^2 + y^2 = r^2
This is also the Pythagorean Theorem
solution to all right triangles:
a^2 + b^2 = c^2
Given that what we are dealing with are
speed, perceived space-time, and the speed of light, this works out to be:
v^2 + t^2 = c^2
Since we’re using the natural units where
c = 1, this simplifies even further to:
v^2 + t^2 = 1
It’s easier to see this as a graph.
In this framework, the maximum possible
length of any side is 1, and the hypotenuse, representing c, is defined as
having a length of 1. It is then quite
easy to see that as speed increases, perceived space-time must decrease. The relationship between these two variables
can also be plotted out quite easily, as the first quadrant of a circle.
So, as can easily be seen, a particle
must be moving quite quickly before the space-time distortion becomes really
noticeable. Also note that the radius of
the arc is defined by c, the speed of light.
At rest, v=0, a particle experiences t=1, full space-time. At the speed of light, v=c, a particle
experiences t=0, collapsed space-time.
Gravity distorts actual space-time, just
as velocity distorts perceived space-time, and in exactly the same ways. This results in these two graphs, where g is
the pull of gravity, expressed as velocity.
(Justification – gravity is normally represented as acceleration, d/t2,
which is velocity applied over time. For
this discussion, I am interpreting the pull of gravity as an instantaneous
velocity, d/t, with no passage of time to aggregate its effects into
acceleration.)
This shows g distorting space-time. Now we get to the fun part.
For the following, I make one assumption:
space-time is itself subject to quantum
theory. In other words, space-time is
digital, not analog. There are discrete
points of space-time, separate and somewhat independent from each other.
‘t’ can be most easily understood as
representing the distance between points of space-time. No, there isn’t anything between these
points. The distance between points is a
measure of the length of space-time – this is physical length, as well as the
length of time. It takes time to traverse
space, and space for time (change) to happen in. Time and space are the same thing, remember.
Scientists have already proposed a
minimum possible length – the Planck length.
Quantum effects dominate at this scale.
I propose that each point of space-time is discrete, and has its own
properties. For our purposes here, I am
limiting the discussion to gravitic effects.
This interpretation shows that the
curvature of space-time is really a simple change in density. The higher the local gravity field, the
closer the points of space-time are to each other.
Taking a look at the graph of gravity,
notice that it arbitrarily stops at g=c=1.
This is the event horizon of a black hole. However, there is no reason for gravity to
arbitrarily stop there. Gravity keeps
increasing in black holes that are larger than the bare minimum. So, inside the event horizon, do the
equations and graphs break down? Not at
all, if you simply convert your units of measurement to the set of complex
numbers. Normal space is restricted to
the subset of complex numbers better known as the real numbers. Inside the black hole, imaginary numbers
rule.
Notice, then, that the higher the
gravity, the larger the imaginary component becomes. This implies that, given sufficient gravity (g > sqrt(2)), the black hole
becomes larger on the inside (on the imaginary plane) than it is on the outside
(on the real plane).
But what of velocity? On the real plane, v is always less than or
equal to c. However, inside the black
hole, space time has an added dimension provided by the complex plane. So there, and only there, velocity can
acquire a complex component. The complex
component could, theoretically, become arbitrarily large. v^2 + t^2 = c^2 (where
c=1) still holds true, because the squared imaginary plane components become
negatives, and subtract themselves back out, leaving a result of 1. The same also applies to the gravity effects
formula of g^2 + t^2 = c^2.
Other musings.
These are things I cannot yet prove, but
the logic is there to strongly suggest, and derive from valid observations.
There are three basic layers to
reality. The physical layer (quantum
particles, having their own properties such as velocity and charge), space-time
(quantum points, having their own properties such as distance apart), and
fields (analog equations).
Fields are not a part of space-time, and
are not subject to its restrictions.
Fields propagate arbitrarily (infinitely) quickly over arbitrary
(infinite) distances. Examine – given the
theoretically infinite space-time density at the event horizon of a black hole,
where g-c and t=0, if fields such as gravity and electro-magnetism were subject
to space-time restrictions they could not propagate any further. Yet, we know that black holes have gravitic
and electro-magnetic effects outside their event horizon – that is, in fact,
what makes them interesting. And it has been proven that the earth is
attracted to where the sun actually is at any given moment, not where it appears
to be in the sky due to the over eight light-minute distance. Therefore,
the fields themselves must not be subject to normal space-time restrictions. Occam’s razor dictates that we take the
simple solution that fields propagate infinitely quickly.
Points of space-time are discrete, and
have properties. They grow closer to
each other in the presence of a high gravity field. Thus, we easily see that the points can move
relative to each other. The next logical
step is to interpret the points of space–time as a fluid, instead of a fixed
grid. They can move around, and even
past, each other. They can move in
different directions. Their movement is
dictated solely by changes in the local gravity field. This helps explain why the outer reaches of
spiral galaxies spin at the same rate as the centers – the points of space time
have been caught up in the spin, as well as the actual particles of matter
themselves.
Points also exhibit the properties
dictated by the local fields. The gravitic
field at a given point dictates that a point has a vector property corresponding
to its strength and direction. In other
words, each point of space time imparts a motion vector to any particle of
matter that happens to reside there. (I
suspect that the same applies to electro-magnetic effects, but that topic is
beyond my understanding. But, as a
simple matter of symmetry and common effects, it should apply.) The final motion of a particle is a
combination of all the vectors acting upon its own momentum vector.
The behavior and properties of matter
define their effects on fields. This is
a known, basic, given fact. Fields
affect the points of space-time.
Space-time properties affect the particles of matter located thereon. And so on, and so on, in a perpetual game of
rock-paper-scissors.
Edit 2020: Looking back, I'm almost there. Space is not discrete, but particles sort of are. There is no gravitic field, because gravity is not a force.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
I knew it! 30 million illegals in America
They've been talking for at least the last 15-20 years about the '11 million' illegal aliens in America. That can't possibly still be true, even if it was in the beginning. Around half a million people cross the border illegally into the US every year without getting caught. How do I know? I asked the border patrol when I was stationed in Arizona back in the 90's. They caught about a thousand people a day - because that's all they could handle. They knew they were letting at least half go. And we all know that most of them stay here - how else could there be more every year? They're frickin everywhere now! Given the numbers, there must be somewhere between 20-30 million illegals in America now.
So, yesterday Breitbart had an article about how the former Mexican Ambassador (!) said we had 30 million illegal aliens in the US now. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/18/30-million-illegal-immigrants-in-us-says-mexicos-former-ambassador/
I've seen other reports that say 1 in 5 Hondurans is in the US now. I don't remember the percentage of Mexicans who currently squat here in the US, but it's at least 5%.
These numbers constitute a foreign invasion. And they breed faster than us real Americans do. You can't replace the people of a country and still have the same country. Demography is destiny.
Save the native White Americans! We northern European Protestants founded and built this country. And we didn't tame a wilderness and slaughter the Indians just to give up and let the Mexicans take it all back from us. We used to have spines. Hell, we fought or bribed the world's superpowers to get what we had. Surely we can muster the intestinal fortitude to keep it.
So, yesterday Breitbart had an article about how the former Mexican Ambassador (!) said we had 30 million illegal aliens in the US now. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/18/30-million-illegal-immigrants-in-us-says-mexicos-former-ambassador/
I've seen other reports that say 1 in 5 Hondurans is in the US now. I don't remember the percentage of Mexicans who currently squat here in the US, but it's at least 5%.
These numbers constitute a foreign invasion. And they breed faster than us real Americans do. You can't replace the people of a country and still have the same country. Demography is destiny.
Save the native White Americans! We northern European Protestants founded and built this country. And we didn't tame a wilderness and slaughter the Indians just to give up and let the Mexicans take it all back from us. We used to have spines. Hell, we fought or bribed the world's superpowers to get what we had. Surely we can muster the intestinal fortitude to keep it.
Monday, August 17, 2015
War Stories 1
So there I was...
West Berlin, Spring 1989. Reagan was President. Communism was teetering on the edge of collapse, and nobody, but nobody, knew which way the Soviets under Gorbachev were going to jump. They could let it all fall apart, or they could slaughter a few hundred thousand people. No way to tell.
I was a spy, of sorts. I was a communications intercept technician in the happy hunting grounds - totally surrounded by the enemy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg
Good times. I was a natural, and ended up after my first hitch as probably one of the top ten people in the US at the job. Not that that meant anything during the 'peace dividend' draw-down after Gulf War 1.
Everything you ever heard or read about espionage in Berlin during the Cold War is true. Especially the contradictory things. I actually saw a briefcase exchange on a bus once. Yes, I reported it. Later on, when I got back into the Army and went through counterintelligence school, my trainers were curious why I knew about all these espionage cases that weren't public knowledge...
Anyway, we had a communications center, better known as the watch office. All the message traffic flowed through that office, and had to be manually forwarded, for reasons. (Please insert 'single point of failure' joke here.) We got in a new private, and he was assigned to the watch office. Nice, low stress, cushy job. All he had to do was learn how to hit the 'forward message' button, and type up standardized reports. His NCO assigned him to type up a message form, then the NCO and the rest of the watch standers went to lunch. MAJOR FUCK-UP NUMBER ONE.
The private typed up the message, made sure it was perfect, then cleared the screen and went to lunch. Everybody else had, so it must be all right. Leaving the watch office empty. MAJOR FUCK-UP NUMBER TWO.
Did I mention that the message he was practicing said, basically, 'GSFG is heading west, with no intention of stopping at the border. We are under attack. The balloon has gone up.' Oh, and
did I mention that the 'Send' key was adjacent to the 'Clear Screen' key, and that sending a message also cleared the screen? MAJOR FUCK-UP NUMBER THREE.
About two minutes after the private goes to lunch (leaving the watch office empty, of course), the phone starts ringing. And nobody answers it. And no more messages are coming out of West Berlin. From the perspective of the leaders in the West, Berlin sent the 'World War III has started' message and then WENT OFF THE AIR.
US forces in West Germany went immediately ape shit. They executed the 'this is not a drill' plan. Units got snarled up trying to mobilize with no warning, pick up their ammunition loads, and head to their assigned positions. Extra weapons appeared out of nowhere, including an entire tank battalion loading up with Tommy Guns, which hadn't been in the inventory for decades at that point. 7th Corps requested permission to cross the 1km line and counterattack into Czechoslovakia. Artillery units were requesting nuclear release to begin bombarding the Fulda Gap. Everybody who had been stationed in the West then remembers that day as 'the day the First Sergeant/Sergeant Major looked scared.'
And then it all got turned off, after the people went back to the watch office after lunch, and the messages started flowing again, and a ringing phone was answered with "What are you talking about? Nothing's going on here."
Needless to say, the NCO rapidly became a private. As a positive effect, the battle plans were updated to reduce road congestion after the 'unannounced drill.' No one actually died, so the whole episode ended up being a funny story, instead of a major tragedy.
West Berlin, Spring 1989. Reagan was President. Communism was teetering on the edge of collapse, and nobody, but nobody, knew which way the Soviets under Gorbachev were going to jump. They could let it all fall apart, or they could slaughter a few hundred thousand people. No way to tell.
I was a spy, of sorts. I was a communications intercept technician in the happy hunting grounds - totally surrounded by the enemy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg
Good times. I was a natural, and ended up after my first hitch as probably one of the top ten people in the US at the job. Not that that meant anything during the 'peace dividend' draw-down after Gulf War 1.
Everything you ever heard or read about espionage in Berlin during the Cold War is true. Especially the contradictory things. I actually saw a briefcase exchange on a bus once. Yes, I reported it. Later on, when I got back into the Army and went through counterintelligence school, my trainers were curious why I knew about all these espionage cases that weren't public knowledge...
Anyway, we had a communications center, better known as the watch office. All the message traffic flowed through that office, and had to be manually forwarded, for reasons. (Please insert 'single point of failure' joke here.) We got in a new private, and he was assigned to the watch office. Nice, low stress, cushy job. All he had to do was learn how to hit the 'forward message' button, and type up standardized reports. His NCO assigned him to type up a message form, then the NCO and the rest of the watch standers went to lunch. MAJOR FUCK-UP NUMBER ONE.
The private typed up the message, made sure it was perfect, then cleared the screen and went to lunch. Everybody else had, so it must be all right. Leaving the watch office empty. MAJOR FUCK-UP NUMBER TWO.
Did I mention that the message he was practicing said, basically, 'GSFG is heading west, with no intention of stopping at the border. We are under attack. The balloon has gone up.' Oh, and
did I mention that the 'Send' key was adjacent to the 'Clear Screen' key, and that sending a message also cleared the screen? MAJOR FUCK-UP NUMBER THREE.
About two minutes after the private goes to lunch (leaving the watch office empty, of course), the phone starts ringing. And nobody answers it. And no more messages are coming out of West Berlin. From the perspective of the leaders in the West, Berlin sent the 'World War III has started' message and then WENT OFF THE AIR.
US forces in West Germany went immediately ape shit. They executed the 'this is not a drill' plan. Units got snarled up trying to mobilize with no warning, pick up their ammunition loads, and head to their assigned positions. Extra weapons appeared out of nowhere, including an entire tank battalion loading up with Tommy Guns, which hadn't been in the inventory for decades at that point. 7th Corps requested permission to cross the 1km line and counterattack into Czechoslovakia. Artillery units were requesting nuclear release to begin bombarding the Fulda Gap. Everybody who had been stationed in the West then remembers that day as 'the day the First Sergeant/Sergeant Major looked scared.'
And then it all got turned off, after the people went back to the watch office after lunch, and the messages started flowing again, and a ringing phone was answered with "What are you talking about? Nothing's going on here."
Needless to say, the NCO rapidly became a private. As a positive effect, the battle plans were updated to reduce road congestion after the 'unannounced drill.' No one actually died, so the whole episode ended up being a funny story, instead of a major tragedy.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Can we end the experiment yet?
America has been undergoing an experiment for the last 50 years or so. The gist of the experiment - what happens when we expand tolerance to include tolerant of those people and ideas that would destroy our culture, to include tolerance itself?
It appears that all but the intelligentsia in their white towers can see how this experiment has turned out. As expected, tolerance of that and those which would destroy the tolerant society is societal suicide. It is quite evident, obvious even.
But there or none so blind, as those who will not see.
Let's examine basic, bedrock truths. American culture was derived from an Anglo-centric, northern European Protestant Christianity. As English is a Germanic language, with words and occasionally grammar borrowed from hither and yon, so the American culture is English mixed with German, with bits of other European cultures tossed in for spice.
American culture is explicitly white, Christian culture. Black Americans have been notably unable or unwilling to adopt the predominant culture of the country they have lived freely in for 150 years. Asians, for the most part, have moved here and, for the most part, become Americans. But Blacks still haven't. Because they don't want to - because that's 'acting white.' Either that or they are, as a whole, inherently too stupid and violent to adopt the American culture.
Muslims will never be good Americans. They can't be, and still be good Muslims. 'A' can never equal 'Not-A'. A good Muslim is the opposite of a good American. As we saw a few days ago in Chattanooga. Islam is incompatible with Christian morality and American freedom and tolerance. Islam is not peaceful or tolerant - the word literally means submission (as in slavery). The Quran literally teaches Muslims to fight everyone else on Earth, until everyone is Muslim. They are to use every tactic and strategy to achieve this goal. They are expressly exhorted to lie, kill, and take non-Muslim women as concubines or whores. Slavery is part of Islam, and praised in the Quran.
We have allowed hordes (literally - millions of people) of Latinos into our country. They have come so quickly, in such numbers, that they no longer even try to assimilate. Instead, they are busy turning large parts of America into their home countries - primarily (but far from exclusively) Mexico. If you think that's a good idea, you haven't seen enough of Mexico, or even stopped to wonder why they're leaving Mexico in the first place.
An exact parallel is happening when liberals leave the big, liberal cities to escape from the soul and budget destroying aspects of liberalism. They move out to the suburbs, to the county, to places that are still predominately conservative. But just as one is a grasshopper, but ten thousand are a swarm of locusts, the liberals bring their liberalism with them. They start to demand that the land they relocated to change everything about itself to suit them and their ways - never pondering if liberalism itself was what ruined their previous home.
This experiment has exhaustively proven that the more forceful culture gets its way. A culture without the intestinal fortitude to defend itself and its people from attack can not long survive.
It appears that all but the intelligentsia in their white towers can see how this experiment has turned out. As expected, tolerance of that and those which would destroy the tolerant society is societal suicide. It is quite evident, obvious even.
But there or none so blind, as those who will not see.
Let's examine basic, bedrock truths. American culture was derived from an Anglo-centric, northern European Protestant Christianity. As English is a Germanic language, with words and occasionally grammar borrowed from hither and yon, so the American culture is English mixed with German, with bits of other European cultures tossed in for spice.
American culture is explicitly white, Christian culture. Black Americans have been notably unable or unwilling to adopt the predominant culture of the country they have lived freely in for 150 years. Asians, for the most part, have moved here and, for the most part, become Americans. But Blacks still haven't. Because they don't want to - because that's 'acting white.' Either that or they are, as a whole, inherently too stupid and violent to adopt the American culture.
Muslims will never be good Americans. They can't be, and still be good Muslims. 'A' can never equal 'Not-A'. A good Muslim is the opposite of a good American. As we saw a few days ago in Chattanooga. Islam is incompatible with Christian morality and American freedom and tolerance. Islam is not peaceful or tolerant - the word literally means submission (as in slavery). The Quran literally teaches Muslims to fight everyone else on Earth, until everyone is Muslim. They are to use every tactic and strategy to achieve this goal. They are expressly exhorted to lie, kill, and take non-Muslim women as concubines or whores. Slavery is part of Islam, and praised in the Quran.
We have allowed hordes (literally - millions of people) of Latinos into our country. They have come so quickly, in such numbers, that they no longer even try to assimilate. Instead, they are busy turning large parts of America into their home countries - primarily (but far from exclusively) Mexico. If you think that's a good idea, you haven't seen enough of Mexico, or even stopped to wonder why they're leaving Mexico in the first place.
An exact parallel is happening when liberals leave the big, liberal cities to escape from the soul and budget destroying aspects of liberalism. They move out to the suburbs, to the county, to places that are still predominately conservative. But just as one is a grasshopper, but ten thousand are a swarm of locusts, the liberals bring their liberalism with them. They start to demand that the land they relocated to change everything about itself to suit them and their ways - never pondering if liberalism itself was what ruined their previous home.
This experiment has exhaustively proven that the more forceful culture gets its way. A culture without the intestinal fortitude to defend itself and its people from attack can not long survive.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Eureka?
OK, I think I've got it. Pretty sure for now, anyways.
For whatever reason, my mind has kept wandering back to General Relativity when I'm riding the train home from work. I had a moment of clarity last week, and the presence of mind to start writing things down on paper. After a couple revisions to simplify and clarify, plus explaining it to my teenaged daughter in about 20 minutes, I'm ready to post it here.
How General Relativity Works
Pythagoras's theorem lies at the heart of reality.
C^2 = E^2 + t^2
The square of the speed of light is the square of the energy plus the square of the proper time.
Energy is a shorthand for the velocity of a particle, or the strength of the local gravitational field when we're talking about a point in space. Incidentally, these are vectors and add to produce the final motion of a particle. But for the purposes of this part of the equation above, they're just scalars (directionless numbers). Yes, I know I'm using definitions rather loosely here.
Proper Time is what physicists call locally perceived time. That's time as the subject experiences it. Notice that this can change due to the subject's own speed, and also with the local gravity field. Both speed and gravity distort space time - speed for the particle itself, and gravity for anything that happens to be there. Proper time is best thought of a a (less than one) multiplier to the standard theoretical unit of space-time. The t of space and the t of a particle occupying that space multiply to get the final result of locally perceived space-time, based on both gravity and velocity. (If a particle's t is 0.9, and local space's t is 0.5, then the end result is a t' of 0.45. Meanwhile, the particle is moving forward, while being pulled in the direction of local gravity field. Simple is not the same as easy.)
The speed of light is constant in a vacuum. This explanation works best if we select a system of units that defines c as 1.
Space is Time and Time is Space. Believe it, because it is true. This is the foundation of everything here. When time shortens, so does space. When space shortens, so does time. This follows from the fact that c is a constant. Since c = distance / time, if c is held constant, then the proportion of distance to time must also hold constant.
That's it, really. Everything else follows from these simple relationships. It's not that complicated. I have no idea why it's not taught or explained in these simple terms.
Relativistic Mass
Thinking about this led to my moment of clarity last week. I had the idea, but then had to spend a few days researching what was known already. Frankly, a lot of the explanations I could find seemed self-contradictory. Here's the summary of what I believe is really going on.
Mass is a property of matter. (Photons don't have mass, just energy, but they work in precisely the same way.) The mass of an object is a fixed property. However, the energy it represents can increase in inverse proportion to the decrease in perceived time.
Mass is best thought of as a rotation of a particle. It completes one rotation per unit mass per unit space-time. It can not have fractional units, and must always complete a whole number of rotations. (This is the essence of quantum mechanics - there are only whole units, never partial units. Although, I suppose the units being used could perhaps be half rotations.) This is the frequency of the particle - the number of rotations per unit space-time. Notice that this is already accepted for photons - they don't have a mass, but do have a variable energy, based on their frequency. (OK, so I can't draw all that well. The squiggle over the arrow is supposed to be a sine wave, with the arrow representing the motion of the particle as it is rotating in a circle about the central axis.)
So, we have a particle with a fixed frequency. But we've already shown that length (space-time) changes with speed and local gravity. That means that the speed of rotation must increase as the distance (wavelength) decreases. It is this speed of rotation that is the actually measure of the energy represented by the mass of the particle. At rest, it is identical to the mass. At near the speed of light, or in a high gravity field, it increases markedly. Physicists don't like to refer to the mass changing (because it doesn't), so they refer to the total energy as the relativistic energy of an object.
It's easiest to think of things in terms of density. As gravity increases, space gets denser. As an object's speed increases, its energy becomes more dense (in comparison to a theoretical t=1 background).
The object itself doesn't notice any of this - because from it's point of view, nothing happens. When physicists talk about objects in a reference frame, they mean objects at the same level of absolute density. That's the normal, every day life for you and me. We're all in (approximately) the same level of density of space-time. From it's own perspective, based on the local proper time, mass is constant, speeds and lengths are normal, and the speed of light is still, as always, the speed of light, and a constant.
Notice that there are some interesting, theoretical consequences to all this. An object must move to exist, even if it moves only the smallest amount possible. If it didn't move at all, with a speed of zero, you get a division by zero error and undetermined mass. It also wouldn't move through time, as it didn't move through space. This would seem to rule out ever actually reaching absolute zero. Fortunately, there is unlikely to be any spot in the universe where there is no gravity, and no realistic way to create a particle with no inherent motion.
This rotation concept also helps explain (at least to me) the particle - wave nature of objects.
Conjecture - The rotational velocity of a massive particle is what causes gravity. The faster it rotates, the greater the gravity field created. How this actually would work is beyond my abilities. But it certainly seems reasonable, and is consistent with how other things work - especially electromagnetism. (This concept explains how relativistic energy creates gravity, without changing the rest mass.) Gravitational force would be measured by the absolute speed of rotation, not the locally perceived speed.
Other thoughts - What, if any, difference would there be in particles that rotate in different directions? Is there a maximum possible rotational velocity related to c, which is to say, is there such a thing as the maximum possible energy of a photon, or the maximum possible mass of a particle? And what happens if you then accelerate that particle and place it in a high gravitational field, increasing its energy?
Edit 2020: Nope. Still being confused by science books and on-line articles. But getting closer. I hate Copenhagen so much.
For whatever reason, my mind has kept wandering back to General Relativity when I'm riding the train home from work. I had a moment of clarity last week, and the presence of mind to start writing things down on paper. After a couple revisions to simplify and clarify, plus explaining it to my teenaged daughter in about 20 minutes, I'm ready to post it here.
How General Relativity Works
Pythagoras's theorem lies at the heart of reality.
The square of the speed of light is the square of the energy plus the square of the proper time.
Energy is a shorthand for the velocity of a particle, or the strength of the local gravitational field when we're talking about a point in space. Incidentally, these are vectors and add to produce the final motion of a particle. But for the purposes of this part of the equation above, they're just scalars (directionless numbers). Yes, I know I'm using definitions rather loosely here.
Proper Time is what physicists call locally perceived time. That's time as the subject experiences it. Notice that this can change due to the subject's own speed, and also with the local gravity field. Both speed and gravity distort space time - speed for the particle itself, and gravity for anything that happens to be there. Proper time is best thought of a a (less than one) multiplier to the standard theoretical unit of space-time. The t of space and the t of a particle occupying that space multiply to get the final result of locally perceived space-time, based on both gravity and velocity. (If a particle's t is 0.9, and local space's t is 0.5, then the end result is a t' of 0.45. Meanwhile, the particle is moving forward, while being pulled in the direction of local gravity field. Simple is not the same as easy.)
The speed of light is constant in a vacuum. This explanation works best if we select a system of units that defines c as 1.
Space is Time and Time is Space. Believe it, because it is true. This is the foundation of everything here. When time shortens, so does space. When space shortens, so does time. This follows from the fact that c is a constant. Since c = distance / time, if c is held constant, then the proportion of distance to time must also hold constant.
That's it, really. Everything else follows from these simple relationships. It's not that complicated. I have no idea why it's not taught or explained in these simple terms.
Relativistic Mass
Thinking about this led to my moment of clarity last week. I had the idea, but then had to spend a few days researching what was known already. Frankly, a lot of the explanations I could find seemed self-contradictory. Here's the summary of what I believe is really going on.
Mass is a property of matter. (Photons don't have mass, just energy, but they work in precisely the same way.) The mass of an object is a fixed property. However, the energy it represents can increase in inverse proportion to the decrease in perceived time.
So, we have a particle with a fixed frequency. But we've already shown that length (space-time) changes with speed and local gravity. That means that the speed of rotation must increase as the distance (wavelength) decreases. It is this speed of rotation that is the actually measure of the energy represented by the mass of the particle. At rest, it is identical to the mass. At near the speed of light, or in a high gravity field, it increases markedly. Physicists don't like to refer to the mass changing (because it doesn't), so they refer to the total energy as the relativistic energy of an object.
It's easiest to think of things in terms of density. As gravity increases, space gets denser. As an object's speed increases, its energy becomes more dense (in comparison to a theoretical t=1 background).
The object itself doesn't notice any of this - because from it's point of view, nothing happens. When physicists talk about objects in a reference frame, they mean objects at the same level of absolute density. That's the normal, every day life for you and me. We're all in (approximately) the same level of density of space-time. From it's own perspective, based on the local proper time, mass is constant, speeds and lengths are normal, and the speed of light is still, as always, the speed of light, and a constant.
Notice that there are some interesting, theoretical consequences to all this. An object must move to exist, even if it moves only the smallest amount possible. If it didn't move at all, with a speed of zero, you get a division by zero error and undetermined mass. It also wouldn't move through time, as it didn't move through space. This would seem to rule out ever actually reaching absolute zero. Fortunately, there is unlikely to be any spot in the universe where there is no gravity, and no realistic way to create a particle with no inherent motion.
This rotation concept also helps explain (at least to me) the particle - wave nature of objects.
Conjecture - The rotational velocity of a massive particle is what causes gravity. The faster it rotates, the greater the gravity field created. How this actually would work is beyond my abilities. But it certainly seems reasonable, and is consistent with how other things work - especially electromagnetism. (This concept explains how relativistic energy creates gravity, without changing the rest mass.) Gravitational force would be measured by the absolute speed of rotation, not the locally perceived speed.
Other thoughts - What, if any, difference would there be in particles that rotate in different directions? Is there a maximum possible rotational velocity related to c, which is to say, is there such a thing as the maximum possible energy of a photon, or the maximum possible mass of a particle? And what happens if you then accelerate that particle and place it in a high gravitational field, increasing its energy?
Edit 2020: Nope. Still being confused by science books and on-line articles. But getting closer. I hate Copenhagen so much.
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