MARK TWAIN & ME & DEATH & TIME
A daily practice of mine is to look at the weather forecasts. Included in the facts are the temperature highs and lows associated with that date. I sometimes dwell on the years these records were set, years when I did not exist. Could I be considered dead on those dates? Is the definition of death that interval before and after your existence?
What got me thinking of this topic was a quote I read a few days ago. A quote of Mark Twain’s when he was asked if he feared death. The great writer said, “I do not fear death. I have been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”
This quote sums up exactly what I have been secretly pondering for years. But the part that bothers me is the ‘billions and billions of years’.
I have been both intrigued and mystified by the universe’s creation, the ‘Big Bang’. What follows are questions I have pondered, and the more I learn, the greater my confusion. What came before the ‘Big Bang’? Did time exist before that colossal event? For time is the interval between two events, and if there are no events, can there be time? Time would have to exist while the three other dimensions had not come into existence.
As a side-note, I have been working on a short story, The Event, for some time now and the story is tangled up in the notion of the ‘Big Bang’ and what came before.
As far as I know, the current theory speculates that the Higgs boson created the ‘Big Bang’, a particle which is able to create mass. But what created the Higgs boson, a particle which had to exist before the ‘Big Bang’. Just for a moment, let’s play with science. We all know the existence of the formula E=Mc2 Now, if the Higgs boson created matter, did light exist at that time? For, if light did not exist, E=M0 equals no energy or mass. So how can mass be created if light does not exist? Am I pursuing mind games are these answers known?
I’ve always thought of the ‘Big Bang’ as a combination of God and science, where physics and religion meet in a profound outcome. Was Mark Twain, and us all, dead before life for billions and billions of years, or for infinity?
IDEA FOR A SCIENCE FICTION STORY: BLACK HOLE
I know it’s been done before, but here’s my idea of a story that might be on a slightly grander scale. With this posting on my blog I have proof that the idea is mine. Just thought I’d run it by my science fiction fans and writers.
I just read an article posted on Science Daily, a site I check every day for it provides a wealth of science facts capable of giving science fiction a nudge. The article stated (I’ll provide a link) that scientists have discovered a new black hole. The interesting fact is that it is 30 times bigger than expected, and they don’t know why.
Okay, let’s put on our imagination caps now.
What if the black hole was 100 times as big as predicted, hell, make it 1000 times bigger. The universe is less than predictable. Imagine that this black hole was near enough to our galaxy, or perhaps created within our galaxy, and was able to draw our solar system and a good part of the Milky Way into its region of destruction.
How would that approach effect our planet? Say we had a heads-up of thousands of years. What would mankind do other than form committees which accomplish nothing? What would the hero to this dilemma do to save the world? And if there wasn’t a hero what would happen when our planet was pulled into this massive void? Are we destroyed or do we arrive at another dimension, converted into dark matter?
Think about it.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150924083634.htm
WE REMEMBER
It is estimated that between 50 and 200 people jumped from the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. Marked forever in our memory will be the vision of them falling. Who can put themselves in the thought process that went into that decision and the conditions under which it was made? They did not chose death. They were murdered.
This poem is dedicated to those poor souls and all lives claimed that fateful day.
JUMPERS
They were like birds flying,
Leaping from flaming windows,
No wings to purchase air,
No hope of flying home.
They were like birds flying,
Tumbling in twos, alone,
Flashing by in a smoke-filled sky
While crowds watched in horror.
They were like birds flying
Flights, imprinting the nation’s memory.
They were like omens flying,
Carrying us into a world of fear.
CARIBBEAN BY JAMES A. MICHENER
Reading a James A Michener novel returns the reader to a time of innocence, and provides an engrossing story. A time when writing a novel was more than flash and sex, when story and content were of prime importance. These are the feelings I came away with after reading Michener’s novel, Caribbean. The amount of research he puts into his novels is truly astounding. He uses these fact and weaves a compelling story around the backbone of history.
It’s been a long time since I read one of Michener’s works. My favorite, which I read in my youth, was The Source. This novel follows the excavation of a well in the Middle East, recording the civilizations and people who existed in the area of the well from the bottom-most layer to the present, the present at least at the time of the writing of this novel.
Caribbean, published in 1989, employs Michener’s standard method, using a vast amount of research to describe the civilizations and populations, the hopes and horrors of the people involved with the area. At the same time creating a story and characters that will hold your interest and provide knowledge of the area.
Returning to the first line of this article. I must say that I am guilty of using more profanity in a short story than Michener uses in a 600+ page novel. How times have change and continue to do so, rapidly.
If you haven’t read any of Michener’s works, give yourself and treat and do so.
Tis the season of politics, starting early and earlier with each election.
Just a short comment. Your vote does count, but you have no control over who you will eventually be voting for. That fabled ‘1%’ will make that decision for you and determine you options.
I read in the Washington Post on 8/1/15, that more than 50 individuals and entities (?) have given at least one million dollars apiece to super PACs, backing specific candidates. Nearly half given to a group aligned with Jeb Bush.
So your vote counts, but what filters down to ‘our level’ is predetermined by money.
TRUMP, AND REALITY
Trump reinforces the premise, ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity’.
GEORGE ORWELL WAS CLOSE, BUT A LITTLE EARLY
I’ve been thinking lately about George Orwell’s famous novel, 1984, and how the current state of affairs is starting to mimic his invasion of privacy. I remember, after reading his novel sometime in the 1960’s, ‘Big Brother’ would be determining every aspect of our lives. We still have many freedoms, but we are all being watched, to some extent. Let me explain.
Nineteen Eighty Four came and went and we were all free to live our lives as we wanted. Free of sinister observations, free to think and write what we wanted in total privacy free of no outside intrusions. Now compare those freedoms with what 2015 brings. Hence the title of this piece.
First, let me just mention the NSA. Thanks to Snowden and his leaks, an action which I don’t condone, we have learned, to some extent, the degree to which we are monitored. I may not be the sharpest knife in the draw, but with all the remedies they issue to right this wrong, I don’t know what they’re doing now.
An even larger violation of our privacy is the internet. We all cherish our computers, well maybe not cherish them, but in this day and age could not live without them. Through the internet, they provide a link to the world never thought possible, especially by us ‘mature’ adults. But that link, more and more is a two-way street. As we accumulate information from the world, the world accumulated information about us. And sometimes the way that information is used, is not beneficial to our wellbeing.
The electronic world we now occupy is full of opportunities for those who desire to tap into our lives. Look at the Target episode. Look at the latest revelation that millions of federal employees had their personal information. The revelations of the invasion of our privacy is relentless
I chuckle when I hear advertisements from companies vowing to protect your privacy. But during the ad, they subtlety add ‘That no one can prevent all hacking’, or something to that effect. So what is the use?
Then there are the ever-present cameras. All of us, outside the comfort of our homes, are constantly subject to observation and our every action recorded. Just about every business, and now many homes, have cameras monitoring 24/7. I find it amusing when someone decides to commit a crime, and unless they are hideously disguised, there image is captured, sometimes from multiple angles. Often the pictures are better than what appears on their driver’s license.
Think of this every time you venture from your home, your life and actions will probably be documented at some point. Here I’m not even considering the above cameras, but the existence of the ever-present cellphone. With this device you have the ability to not only record what you want, but also to post it for the world to see. With no filters that I know of.
In conclusion, let me say that we do not live in the world of 1984. But as far as personal privacy goes, we are not far from it.
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RANTS AND RAVED; THE DONALD
Now Donald Trump is bad-mouthing Senator McCain for being captured during the Viet Nam war. I’d like to see Trump’s military record.
We all have freedom of speech, and obviously, the freedom of stupidity.
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