Theory fo relativity

Remember when Einstein was worshiped so completely that the common person thought him infallible?

Remember when his legacy of information about matter and energy was considered to be a chapter in the Bible of Modern Physics?

Well it may surprise you to hear me say this, but Einstein got it wrong a lot of the time. The fact is, he got it wrong not once in a blue moon, but during countless phases of countless moons.

Sometimes his goofs were subtle, and other times they bordered on the ridiculous. The point is, our modern day hero was wrong wrong dead wrong!  —About the universe, about its contents, about the workings of atoms, about his own ability to get it right 100% of the time.

And yet without the benefit of Einstein’s mistakes, we wouldn’t have made as much progress in modern physics. “Most scientists would give their eyeteeth to make even one of Einstein’s mistakes,” says theoretical physicist Fred Goldhaber of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

But that doesn’t change the fact that they were mistakes.  From how gravity works in space, to his silly theory that the cosmos was standing still, Einstein was way off base.  He even manufactured bogus equations to prove the cosmos was standing still. Naughty! Naughty boy!  At least he gave other physicists something to push on, though.  If necessity is the mother of invention, then resistance is the father.

Einstein’s blunders reveal the prejudices that affected his perception and the uniqueness of a mind that resisted the thought that it might be better if he didn’t refer to every idea he came across as the ‘definitive solution’.

In all fairness to this fellow, things such as dark matter had not been postulated yet, though.  There’s only so far the next mind can go, apparently, without the building blocks of dark matter.  And that’s my point.

Minds that can stand the heat will not bother with how they are perceived by others .  They have a unique fearlessness that makes them impervious to judgment from their peers even.  It allows them to blunder full speed ahead.

(And blundering full speed ahead is a good thing, to paraphrase ex-con Martha Stewart.)

News Flash from REYKJAVIK:  Monumental blasts of lava and ash are shooting out of a volcano in southern Iceland.

Eyjafjallajokull has been dormant for 200 years, give or take, but it’s really causing a stir lately.  The nearly unpronounceable volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, last erupted in 1821, with the fireworks lasting about 2 years, give or take a few months.

The first order of business would be to learn to pronounce the name of something that threatens to be hanging around for the next couple of years and making life inconvenient for many planet dwellers.  It’s a matter of pride.

Number of syllables is 7:  “Eyjafjallajokull” — “ay-yah-FYAH’-plah-yer-kuh-duhl.”   Follow this link to UTube for the multiple attempts to say it aloud.

Along with the explosive blasts, small tremors have been rocking the ground, tremors as in earthquakes.  This surge in activity raises fears of a larger explosion at the nearby Katla volcano.

History has proven that when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla follows suit — the only question being when.

Mýrdalsjökull icecap. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.

Katla ia located under the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap, and an eruption would cause disastrous flooding.

Saturday’s eruption at Eyjafjallajokull forced at least 500 people to evacuate and the cancellation of many European flights.

The ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to drift across parts of Britain and Northern Europe. Gritty, abrasive micro particles from the erupting Icelandic volcano can severely damage aircraft engines. (see explanation below)

That’s why events all the way up in Iceland have been canceling airline flights across much of the continent. Follow the link to a UTube video of stranded passengers with no immediate hope of going anywhere in the sky.

The Ash plume, according to experts, is likely to drift further south and eastward, causing even more flight cancellations to and from Europe.

The volcanic ash cloud could make much of northern Europe a no-fly zone. This news has hurt the prices of airline stocks, paralyzed air cargo delivery and disrupted business and leisure travel. The disruption is reported to be costing airlines more than $200 million a day. Around 17,000 flights were expected to be canceled on Friday, with airspace closed across much of Europe.

Energy sectors have also been affected. Assuming an estimated 80 percent of Europe’s airports are shut for 48 hours, the disruption will cut 1.87 million barrels of demand. European oil, gas and electricity production, however, is not expected to suffer in the long run.

Follow this link to an animated plume show of Eyjafjallajokull, complements of the European Space Agency.

If you can get to Iceland, you can stand really close to the volcano.  The problems there are relatively slight–some mud flows, flooding and buckled roadways. To the east is where the problems lie—specifically Europe  You have to see the eruption from the top (space) to understand its significance.

The size of the no-fly airspace full of volcanic ash is massive with predictions of more space to be affected in the next few days:  Ash is now blowing into Sweden, Denmark and the Urals. It’s not the smoke that poses the danger. It’s the particles in the smoke.

Here’s some basic geology, folks.  Ash gets transformed into obsidian in airplane engines.  The jet engine is hot enough to melt the ash into teeny tiny pieces of obsidian which in turn grinds the jet engines to a halt.  There’s no way to know how long this ash filled airspace will be closed.

Two Years is how long Eyjafjallajokull erupted the last time!  No worries, folks,  the Union of Concerned Scientists has already met and declared the eruption too small to change the weather significantly.  We’re still moving towards global warming.  Here’s a question:  How many volcanoes would it take to reverse global warming?

Eyjafjallajokull from space!

"O Ward, I've known all along that 'beaver' is slang for vagina."

What is wrong with White Males as a species? I’m not talking about their well known inability to read directions or ask for them. I can even forgive them for not being able to dance.

I’m talking about their propensities to kill methodically in bunches or in strings, as in ‘serial killers‘ and ‘going postal‘.

It’s pretty common knowledge that white males are the red-handed culprits whenever there’s a string of serial murders, or when a shoot-em up type massacre takes place at a school or work place.

But did you know White Males are statistically more likely to be fire bugs, as in burn down buildings for fun, too?

And the sad thing is, folks, White Males still rule the world!

Oh, I know, every once in a while, an Oriental or Arab dude tries to give the White Males a run for their money. But the last Oriental who made in-roads into the predominately white world of ultimate conquerors was Genghis Khan, and the last impactful Yellow-skinned fellow was Bruce Lee.

"Move over, all you Crackers! I am your Genghis! "

Let’s face it, ever since Mr. Khan, (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history, white men have pretty much cornered the market on human privileges, such as education, wealth and basic humans freedom, not to mention all the women that go with.

Critical race theory experts even have a term for it….drum roll…..…………………… white privilege:

Just so you know it’s exactly like it sounds, “White privilege is a set of perceived/non perceived advantages enjoyed and exploited by white people beyond those commonly experienced by non-white people in the same social, political, and economic spaces.”

Whites, for example, have historically had more opportunities to accumulate wealth. Many of the institutions of wealth created amongst American citizens were open exclusively to whites.  Whites, in fact, still own the greatest percentage of the wealth in the U.S.

So why do privileged white males become twisted sociopathic killing machines?

Perhaps because the ‘Failures’ amongst them can’t blame society as readily as their darker skinned counterparts.  Perhaps because white males are culturally more limited in dealing with their emotions.  Perhaps because they are expected to outperform all other races in all areas except music, martial arts, comedy and sports.   Perhaps because white women no longer view them as preferable to any other race of men.

Bingo, BINGO!  My friends! I think we’ve stumbled upon the main reason— the need to impregnate the most women—-that never ending drive that makes pharmaceutical companies develop potency drugs until men are blue in their faces. I’m talking literally, as in dead-blue deprived of oxygen.

He who impregnates the most women wins!  Isn’t that how it goes?  What gives a man the opportunity to impregnate the most women besides the ability to get it up long after health has deteriorated?  Wealth, power, strength and wisdom–or the pretense thereof!

White males were pretty much in reverence of themselves until the women no longer found them any more revereable than the other colors of humanity.

Ozzie knew Harriett wasn’t going to run off with a big black Leroy—there weren’t any.  Ward Cleaver never had any worries about his wife June encountering a black man except in the guise of a shoe-shine boy on a downtown street in St. Louis, and he wasn’t about to take a ’shine’ to a white woman or whip out his polished ‘willie’.

No white man had to be worried about a black man taking his woman, except by force in the night.  Young manly Oriental Men weren’t in the picture–and only bongo playin’ Ricky Ricardo was allowed to have a white woman.  Arab men had Omar Sharif to make them look good, but no sitcoms featured a fiercesome butt-humping Arabian stallion married to his burkah clad helpmate.

TV perpetuated the white male myth forever and ever.  Historically, black actors were assigned to comedy and buffoonery.  When white TV execs produced black shows, they created black sitcoms that fostered the ludicrousness of blacks as executives, husbands or fathers. White writers once made Black males into a childlike and irresponsible sub-species—- pretty much incapable of managing its own finances and relationships, much less managing the complexities of anything like family life.

Roids make me look cute, I mean cut.

For the Oriental male, on the other hand, we had the ancient, inscrutable yet obese Charlie Chan, until Bruce Lee came along, that is.  Lee was so cute, capable, brave and persecuted.  Right away, he got himself a beautiful white, blonde wife!  Now that’s almost as good as having the largest contiguous empire in History.  Just ask Tiger Woods now that both his empire and his wife are gone.

Speaking of lost empires, back to Ghengis:  Just how big were Khan’s holdings? They stretched from the Danube to the Sea of Japan(or East Sea) and from the Arctic to Camboja, covering over 33,000,000 km² (12,741,000 sq mi),^[1] 22% of the Earth’s total land area, and held sway over a population of over 100 million people.

One Hundred Million People!  (And that was when people were more at a premium per square inch!)

Most of us have heard of Mitochondria,  but I decided to take a closer look at the little goobers to see if I like them or not.  See what you think.

Mitochondria are small round or peanut shaped compartments (0.5–10 micrometers) that are partitioned off by membranes. They are only found in complex cells.

There can be anywhere from one to one thousand mitochondria in a single cell. These organelles are often called the “power plants” of the cell because those who study them believe their main job is to make energy.

Mitochondria are actually very interesting little buggers because they contain their own genetic material (genome) and protein-making machinery enwrapped in a double membrane.

Many scientists believe mitochondria were once free-living bacteria that colonized complex cells at some point during evolution and then became a necessary part to the health of  the organism.  I wonder if viruses could do that for us too.

Besides their role in energy production, mitochondria participate in a natural process called programmed cell death–or PCD–during development.

Scientists do not completely understand PCD, or how obsolete cells self-destruct when ther’e no tissue damage. But that’s not surprising, folks—scientists don’t understand how cells come into being, either.

Do you want to see a complete tour of the cell?  Click here. You’ll be glad you did.

When people talk about the Canary Islands, they’re referring to seven main volcanic islands and several islets that form a chain extending for ~ 500 km across the Atlantic, its eastern edge being only 100 km from the NW African coast.

Everyone knows these islands were formed by volcanic eruptions, caused mostly by hotspots in the oceanic crust; but no one knows for certain why the lava erupted in this particular area of the Atlantic Ocean and when the land masses formed.  The actual origin of the magmatism in the Canaries and its complicated space-time relationships have been a subject of debate for many years.

Here is a link to some fine pictures of volcanic formations throughout the archipelago. Calderas and fissure vents (linear openings through which lava erupts) are abundant.

If you want some interesting historical data, present day statistics and/or tourism info, follow this link to Wikipedia.

Personally, I’m interested in the food aspect, and Wikipedia doesn’t say much about what’s to eat. After carefully combing the internet, I’ve found something that looks mighty tasty:  Canary Islands’ cuisine, I’m told, combines traditional Spanish recipes with African and Latin American influences.

A very simple and well-known Canary Island recipe, for example, is papas arrugadas: potatoes boiled in salt-water with their peelings on then served with mojo picon,a hot sauce of oil, garlic, chili-peppers and paprika. Yum, yum yum.  Click the above links for tried and true authentic recipes.  The local Canarian wine, a mellow flavored and not too sweet concoction from the Malvasia grape, compliments all the spiciness.

In addition to the divinely natural architecture, humans have created some fine masterpieces in the larger cities. There is everything from Moorish to Modern, the latter of which can be seen in the picture.

Wikipedia doesn’t tell you this, either, but Las Palmas is famous for its miracle cures.  Tourists have been frequenting the Canary islands for centuries in search of alternative health cures.  The natural beauty of this area, along with the temperate climate, make for a friendly, open thinking environment–one that is good for letting go of conventional ideas. (Hint Hint)

Today everything changed for the better: Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States.  As soon as he (’faithfully’) spoke that last word from the Oath of Office there was a shift.  Could you feel it?

If you missed the exact moment, just put your attention on the Obama Inauguration and the difference is still in the air. I figure it’s from the overwhelming lightness of raised expectations, or even the feeling of all nations uniting under a new,  intelligent leadership aimed at keeping our planet alive. (Imagine that.)

Whatever the reason, with Obama comes a noticeably strong feeling for good change—strong, not only for our nation’s future but for the future of the entire world.

We could look at it like this. Once again, there are more possibilities for education, advancement and achievement in all things good. Plus these pathways have opened up for many more people who had little chance for self improvement during the last 8 years.

In other words, where there was weakness, there is now strength.

The difference between the weakness of the Bush/Cheney regime versus the strength of the Obama presidency is palpable. And I am not using this word lightly, either. I know most of you can feel the difference in your body.  Just shut off your mind and switch back and forth between the two presidencies with the idea of feeling.

Pause to feel.

OK, everybody, this is where you might want to pay attention. What if this simple concept of strong and weak could be applied to everyday life with its everyday circumstances? What if anybody could tap into those feelings of strong and weak at anytime?

To put it bluntly, you would know the best choices for yourself and your loved ones: This would include  the best solutions to any of life’s problems.  Here’s the good part.  With this knowledge comes the realization of your own potential along with optimum health in body, mind and spirit.

All answers to life’s questions would be based on the simple feelings of strong and weak. It would be like a pulse you could easily check in on at any time, at any place.

Think about it……correction…feel it.