Sunday, November 04, 2012
Grist Mill
A few weeks ago, Allie and I spent an afternoon on a short drive around the area to catch Autumn near its peak in MetroWest. It's a beauty place near Wayland Inn just off of Highway 20. It was just past peak, but still very beautiful.
Friday, November 02, 2012
Kimball Farm in Littleton, PA
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Walking around Philidelphia
On a recent trip to Pennsylvania, I had a chance to briefly explore Philidelphia. The day I was there, it happened to be some celebration as taking place in front of the First Bank of the United States.
Merchants' Exchange Building was kinda strange. It is a bit boring on the front ,but the back is round. Or is that the other way round? :)
Independence Hall from the backside (again, really, is this the back?).
Manhole cover in front of the Independence Hall...wait, I mean, to the building's rear...oh never mind. I thought this would make for an interesting angle of a shot.
Maybe I'll get more time to explore this city and its long history at some later date.
Merchants' Exchange Building was kinda strange. It is a bit boring on the front ,but the back is round. Or is that the other way round? :)
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Recent trip to Lancaster, PA
Well, of all the things not on my bucket list that I got to experience anyway, I woulda never have guessed that I'd passing an Amish horse-and-buggy on state and city roads. Yet, there I was in Lancaster, PA, the heart of Amish Country.
I was in Lancaster, PA for a SolidWorks 2013 rollout event to show off the newest version of SolidWorks to our customers. I don't normally talk about SolidWorks on this blog too much because it's a bit specific to my career, but this story would be incomplete without mentioning it.
On some roads in Amish Country, there are special lanes where trails of horse "exhaust" mark the way, showing clearly which lanes are for cars, and which are for carriages. There was a lively conversation on a my Facebook posting about driving through Intercourse, PA.
A funny thing about the Lancaster area are the references to Dutch culture. This is a bit odd since Dutch influence on Pennsylvania is a bit light. There is a substantial German population in the Lancaster region who are sometimes referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch, but this is a misnomer that comes from the archaic term that refers to people from Germany. They aren't Dutch we know from the Netherlands. Even still, images of old fashion windmills are invoked. Maybe I'm missing something here.
Another thing that impressed me about this region as its beauty. I took no pictures to demonstrate this beauty, unfortunately. Rolling hills of farms and trees and rustic buildings meld together like a series of landscape paintings I've only seen in books. Words (and even simple photographs) could not due it justice.
Would I go back to this region? Prolly not going out of my way to visit it again. I am glad I got a chance to see it, though.
At Hersey Restaurant and Inn (no where near Hersey, PA)
I was in Lancaster, PA for a SolidWorks 2013 rollout event to show off the newest version of SolidWorks to our customers. I don't normally talk about SolidWorks on this blog too much because it's a bit specific to my career, but this story would be incomplete without mentioning it.
SolidWorks 2013 rollout event
Fun in our downtime
On some roads in Amish Country, there are special lanes where trails of horse "exhaust" mark the way, showing clearly which lanes are for cars, and which are for carriages. There was a lively conversation on a my Facebook posting about driving through Intercourse, PA.
Amish horse and buggy
A funny thing about the Lancaster area are the references to Dutch culture. This is a bit odd since Dutch influence on Pennsylvania is a bit light. There is a substantial German population in the Lancaster region who are sometimes referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch, but this is a misnomer that comes from the archaic term that refers to people from Germany. They aren't Dutch we know from the Netherlands. Even still, images of old fashion windmills are invoked. Maybe I'm missing something here.
Another thing that impressed me about this region as its beauty. I took no pictures to demonstrate this beauty, unfortunately. Rolling hills of farms and trees and rustic buildings meld together like a series of landscape paintings I've only seen in books. Words (and even simple photographs) could not due it justice.
Would I go back to this region? Prolly not going out of my way to visit it again. I am glad I got a chance to see it, though.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Great New England Earthquake of 2012
Yesterday, some lake in Hollis, Maine was the epicenter of the Great New England Earthquake of 2012. The best local news interview quote of the night about the little 4.0 earthquake? Some guy really did say, "I felt my toes tingle a little bit."
Additional comments about this on Facebook here.
Additional comments about this on Facebook here.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Freedom of Speech not an excuse to incite because we are offended
Protection of the speech that we find offensive is critical to protecting our right to speak. If we ban our opponent's right to speak because we find their words are offensive, then we open the door to someone banning our rights (not just the right to speak, but perhaps even the right to worship) for the same reasons. Second, each of us as a fellow human control our own selves, and it is our responsible to not harm others. Words by themselves are irrelevent to our actual actions unless we are part of a conspiracy to act together to harm others (such as in the case of gangs that are ordered by their leaders to commit crimes). The only people who should be held accountable for the actions of killing another are those who did it and those who told them to do it. Being offended by the words of our opponents is no excuse for harming others.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
No clouds come
For whatever reason, when there's not a cloud in the sky in Massachusetts, there really isn't any cloud, even contrails. That always seems wierd to this California transplant.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
California Cape Cod and back again
In a bit of double irony, a Californian license plate that professes love for Cape Cod on the wall of a Cape Cod restaurant while California Dreaming played in the background.
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Toebzilla's first Cape Cod Adventure
Allie and I went to Cape Cod this past Sunday, and we brought along Toebzilla. We ended up a Nauset Light Beach, which is dog friendly. It's been a long time since Toebzilla has been to any beach, so the adventure was like new to him.
After settling near the water, I walked with him to the edge of the surf. A little nervous, he moved towards the small waves as though he intended to take on the entire Atlantic Ocean himself. He watched a tiny wave or two before he figured out the timing. When the next tiny wave rolled up, he pounced on it and attempted to nip at it. Instead, he got a mouth full of salty water and splashed up to his knees. At that moment, he decided he had enough of the Ocean, and preferred sunbathing on the beach towel instead.
After settling near the water, I walked with him to the edge of the surf. A little nervous, he moved towards the small waves as though he intended to take on the entire Atlantic Ocean himself. He watched a tiny wave or two before he figured out the timing. When the next tiny wave rolled up, he pounced on it and attempted to nip at it. Instead, he got a mouth full of salty water and splashed up to his knees. At that moment, he decided he had enough of the Ocean, and preferred sunbathing on the beach towel instead.
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
It's taken forty years to realize just how deeply people feel criticism
It's taken forty years to realize just how deeply people feel criticism. A disagreement with one fine point can be taken as disregard for the person themself. On the flip side, it seems people that are very quick to dismiss the opinions and thoughts of others, then express frustration when they think those people are equally dismissive. To me, that is a vicious cycle. Lesson learned for me? "The only winning move is not to [critique]" in social settings, unless there is a very good cause.
I missed the boat so long because I've been in a state of mind of consistently wanting to be critiqued to improve myself, at least in my own eyes. I accept some statements, and dismiss others, and then move on. In this, I do not believe that I've often dismissed any persons outright. I value the person who critiques me because I seek constant feedback (whether I accept the feedback or not). But in this drive, I've very likely offended a great many people who are not like minded in this regard. Criticism of comments or challenging of opinions is not taken well by many people, regardless to how fine the point.
Ironically, this posting is a critique, but not directed any particular person. It is an expression of my own opinion about my own feelings and thoughts. In case someone comes across this message and thinks it's about them, it's not. It is about me. It is a lament that comes from the culmination of a great many experiences.
I missed the boat so long because I've been in a state of mind of consistently wanting to be critiqued to improve myself, at least in my own eyes. I accept some statements, and dismiss others, and then move on. In this, I do not believe that I've often dismissed any persons outright. I value the person who critiques me because I seek constant feedback (whether I accept the feedback or not). But in this drive, I've very likely offended a great many people who are not like minded in this regard. Criticism of comments or challenging of opinions is not taken well by many people, regardless to how fine the point.
Ironically, this posting is a critique, but not directed any particular person. It is an expression of my own opinion about my own feelings and thoughts. In case someone comes across this message and thinks it's about them, it's not. It is about me. It is a lament that comes from the culmination of a great many experiences.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Proof that the Zombie Apocalypse is indeed coming
Are you trying to tell your friends and family that the Zombie Apocalypse is indeed coming?
Are they not listening to your sane words of advice to prepare? Well, now you have the evidence you need to show them that it is coming, in the form of recent news articles.
This Artificial Jellyfish Was Built Using Rat Cells goes into detail about recent success in the creation of an artificial animal.
Scientists Invent Particles That Will Let You Live Without Breathing shows a technology that may keep you alive when you are unable to breath.
If those stories do not convince disbelievers, this ScienceDaily article shows how scientists are working on reprogramming cells to "create completely new and useful forms of life": Easily 'Re-Programmable Cells' Could Be Key in Creation of New Life Forms. This is how almost every Zombie movie begins!
This Artificial Jellyfish Was Built Using Rat Cells goes into detail about recent success in the creation of an artificial animal.
Scientists Invent Particles That Will Let You Live Without Breathing shows a technology that may keep you alive when you are unable to breath.
If those stories do not convince disbelievers, this ScienceDaily article shows how scientists are working on reprogramming cells to "create completely new and useful forms of life": Easily 'Re-Programmable Cells' Could Be Key in Creation of New Life Forms. This is how almost every Zombie movie begins!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
One of the First Computer-Generated Films, from 1963 - AT&T Archives
This may be the world's oldest computer simulation.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Jumpin Jack sign on Highway 495 Southbound
There's a modest sign on the roadside of Highway 495 South, about halfway between Highways 2 and 111. It is simple, with an American flag, and the words "Jumpin Jack". I've wondered what Jumpin Jack was.
Well, he turns out to be a beloved local truck driver named Jack Albert McPhail, a local hero that died while saving others on fateful winter day in March 2007. The story was originally carried by the Boston Herald, but is no longer available. I was able to track down a Boston Globe article on Boston.com. It does not mention the nick name "Jumpin Jack". An obituary still appears on this trucker's forum. It's a good read about the man who was apparently well liked in his community.
For anyone that can safely use Facebook on the road (i.e., a passenger of a car) while passing this sign on 495 S, I've added a place to Facebook to check-in at this location called Jumpin Jack Memorial, classified as a local business under Highway. Facebook is a little odd on how it handles places added by common users, so you may have to search a bit for it (which is why you should be a passenger to attempt the check-in).
Well, he turns out to be a beloved local truck driver named Jack Albert McPhail, a local hero that died while saving others on fateful winter day in March 2007. The story was originally carried by the Boston Herald, but is no longer available. I was able to track down a Boston Globe article on Boston.com. It does not mention the nick name "Jumpin Jack". An obituary still appears on this trucker's forum. It's a good read about the man who was apparently well liked in his community.
For anyone that can safely use Facebook on the road (i.e., a passenger of a car) while passing this sign on 495 S, I've added a place to Facebook to check-in at this location called Jumpin Jack Memorial, classified as a local business under Highway. Facebook is a little odd on how it handles places added by common users, so you may have to search a bit for it (which is why you should be a passenger to attempt the check-in).
Monday, July 16, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Salem Harbor
This past Sunday, Allie and I headed over to Salem, MA. We had brunch at this place called Scratch Kitchen, where the theme seems to be that they make everything from scratch. The food is fresh, with local (North East) sources. I had this plate called the Frenched Elvis that combined french toast, bacon and peanut butter. Surprizingly good.
We headed over to the harbor to catch a ride on the Fame. Fame is a replica schooner that takes tourists on a 1.75hr tour on Salem Sound. Though the tour isn't technically narrated, the captain tells the story of original Fame that captured many enemy merchant ships during the war of 1812. If you are so included, you can also participate in some of the sailing tasks.
Here is Fame on the satellite map.
View Larger Map
After returning to Salem, we had an early dinner and then walked around. There is a lot of charm to Salem. Their harbor area is a little touristy, but not crowded with annoying people, at least on this weekend before the big 4th of July holiday. We had a fun and relaxing time.
We headed over to the harbor to catch a ride on the Fame. Fame is a replica schooner that takes tourists on a 1.75hr tour on Salem Sound. Though the tour isn't technically narrated, the captain tells the story of original Fame that captured many enemy merchant ships during the war of 1812. If you are so included, you can also participate in some of the sailing tasks.
View Larger Map
After returning to Salem, we had an early dinner and then walked around. There is a lot of charm to Salem. Their harbor area is a little touristy, but not crowded with annoying people, at least on this weekend before the big 4th of July holiday. We had a fun and relaxing time.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
How far off is the Zombie Apocalypse?
With a new particle that can enable your body to oxygenate without breathing, one is left wondering isn't this just the sort of technology that will bring on the Zombie Apocalypse?
Scientists invent particles that will let you live without breathing
Scientists invent particles that will let you live without breathing
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Ice Dragon and the Blue Rose (my first original work!)
Announcing the release of my first electronically published book (ebook) on Amazon.com called Decide My Quest: The Ice Dragon and the Blue Rose. This is an interactive adventure where you are a young man who must battle the Ice Dragon and find the Blue Rose in order to marry the Princess. The new innovation of the Decide My Quest (TM) series is you get to see events in your quest from different points of view based on decisions you make. The challenge in writing an interactive adventure in electronic form was providing a method to allow the reader to make decisions on which actions to take in the story. This is accomplished by providing links at the end of each chapter. You can use the normal interface to click on those links, similar to how you click on the chapter links in an ebook's List of Contents.
This book was fun to write, and I hope fun to read and navigate. It is meant primarily for younger readers (9 and up), but older readers will hopefully appreciate it as well. It's $2.99 on Amazon.com. That's a bargin for a book of its lenght. Similar style printed interactive adventures cost much more for less story.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Someone left their phone alone in a bar
Friday, June 08, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
The President has a plan to destroy the economy! Really???
So, I got this thick package in the mail. In it, there was a detailed list of predictions about how the president was acting out a plan to ruin the economy. Predictions were grandiose and far reaching. A lot of money was spent creating this package. I'm sure thousands, if not millions were sent out. The point of the package was to scare everyone into investing into gold.
The year that I received this package (and several others like it)? Circa 1995 all the way to 2000. What happened to gold during this period? The value was depressed nearly the whole time. It fell well behind inflation.
I started getting advertisements more recently about gold again. This time, similar predictions are being made out the current president. Again, the timing of this promotion happens to coincide with the value of gold falling behind inflation. Coincidence?
Under Bush Sr., the economy continued to falter and the value of gold raised. Under Clinton, the economy roared ahead of even the most optimistic predictions. All that value was lost under Bush Jr. and the value of gold raised again, even more radically (but still behind inflation when averaged across history). Poor handling of the economy almost plunged us into a Great Depression II, but instead was forestalled to become Great Recession due to quick actions by Obama. Actually, presidents only marginally have impact on the economic state, but entities like Fox News seem promote the idea that presidents are all powerful.
If you listen to gold pumpers, they sound a lot like Fox News, but even further extreme. Wild predictions about how bad things "will be" under Democratic presidents and their diabolical plots. Really? OK, yeah, let's ignore the fact they have been 100% wrong due to their predictions' poor timing. Let's ignore the facts that they own substantial amounts of gold and stand to profit from its promotion. Let's ignore the facts that these people promote fanciful scenarios as guaranteed facts. The fact is that the economy is now picking up (more quickly than expected by many) meaning that gold is now a poor investment again (generally, gold falls when the dollar strengthens). Yet, now these gold pumpers are heavily promoting ideas of an immediately impending disaster, as though the economic disaster of 2007/8 didn't even happen and is still waiting to happen.
When the economy as does fail (and it will one day, but who knows when, ...it will be some time near the end of the entity of the "United States of America"), at that time, gold will be the least of most people's concerns.
The year that I received this package (and several others like it)? Circa 1995 all the way to 2000. What happened to gold during this period? The value was depressed nearly the whole time. It fell well behind inflation.
I started getting advertisements more recently about gold again. This time, similar predictions are being made out the current president. Again, the timing of this promotion happens to coincide with the value of gold falling behind inflation. Coincidence?
Under Bush Sr., the economy continued to falter and the value of gold raised. Under Clinton, the economy roared ahead of even the most optimistic predictions. All that value was lost under Bush Jr. and the value of gold raised again, even more radically (but still behind inflation when averaged across history). Poor handling of the economy almost plunged us into a Great Depression II, but instead was forestalled to become Great Recession due to quick actions by Obama. Actually, presidents only marginally have impact on the economic state, but entities like Fox News seem promote the idea that presidents are all powerful.
If you listen to gold pumpers, they sound a lot like Fox News, but even further extreme. Wild predictions about how bad things "will be" under Democratic presidents and their diabolical plots. Really? OK, yeah, let's ignore the fact they have been 100% wrong due to their predictions' poor timing. Let's ignore the facts that they own substantial amounts of gold and stand to profit from its promotion. Let's ignore the facts that these people promote fanciful scenarios as guaranteed facts. The fact is that the economy is now picking up (more quickly than expected by many) meaning that gold is now a poor investment again (generally, gold falls when the dollar strengthens). Yet, now these gold pumpers are heavily promoting ideas of an immediately impending disaster, as though the economic disaster of 2007/8 didn't even happen and is still waiting to happen.
When the economy as does fail (and it will one day, but who knows when, ...it will be some time near the end of the entity of the "United States of America"), at that time, gold will be the least of most people's concerns.
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Where my allegiances lie
Just to make sure it is clear where my allegiances lie, for whatever reason, I want to get them down on record now to establish my loyalties as long standing!
6. King and/or Country, which ever happens to be in power at any given moment.
5. Google
4. Me
3. Company and/or Corporation that happens to employ me at the time.
2. Immediate family (aka, my wife)
1. I, for one, welcome our new metallic overlords when they finally take over the world. Just in case these overlords happen to search our human Internet records, I will also spell the word metallic as "metalic", which is likely a future spelling of that word, just to make my declaration of allegiance that much easier to find on future search engines or whatever is in use at that time, including mind scanners (yes, I'm spelling it as "metallic" and "metalic" in my head right now).
Please note I am no coward, but will not forestall history in the face of a future takeover by the robots. I accept the inevitable. However, my loyalties are most certainly Earth-centric.
If any aliens try to come for Earth, they better watch out, because we are going to take them down Independence Day style, just maybe with more realistic methods and not so much death from above. Aliens will never have my allegiance, unless of course they give their allegiance to me, then I might use their superior technology to assist our new metallic overlords in their bid to take over the world.
Of course, I may have to re-evaluate my loyalties if the aliens turn out to be FETTS (Future Evolved Terrestrial Tours and Scientists) as they would have likely over thrown the robots at some point, but I'm willing to cross that bridge when I get there.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Lots of jobs available, but no one with skills to fill them
With over crowded Universities, still only 30% of the total population with any form of a College Degree, and the high pay for tradesmen these days, I am amazed that so few people are going into the trades. To make matters worse, the high school drop out rate is as much as 30% in many areas now (and even much higher in particular areas). It's almost like people either go to college, or they don't bother trying to get a good start on a career at all.
We don't all need college degrees to have a lucrative career. In fact, the wrong college degree can stifle a career. There's a lot of money to be made in the trades. Good examples are Electricians and Plumbers. Plumbers are already making as much money per year near the start of their careers as many people with well positioned degrees from a University. (Some degrees will command nothing more than $30K/year for someone just out of college, which is much less than a Journeyman Plumber who spent the same period in an Apprentice program.)
I got my start in the trades as a Drafter. I was working my first professional job when I was 18 after graduating Trade School (I had been working since I was 13). I didn't get paid a whole lot at the start, but even as a kid, I was aware of the need to have a marketable skill set (though I would've never used those exact words as a teenager).
There is a tremendous and growing skills gap between available jobs and those available to fill them. A recent article by Rick Badie discusses this problem. The article points to a machine shop with positions to fill, a stack of resumes, but no one qualified to take the available positions. This problem is happening all over the country. It's even a little frustrating. There are availble jobs. By some estimates, openings are literally in the millions that aren't getting filled!
mikeroweWorks was started by Mike Rowe, who is also trying to raise awareness of the opportunities in the trades, but also working to improve respect for the job that these tradesmen perform.
We don't all need college degrees to have a lucrative career. In fact, the wrong college degree can stifle a career. There's a lot of money to be made in the trades. Good examples are Electricians and Plumbers. Plumbers are already making as much money per year near the start of their careers as many people with well positioned degrees from a University. (Some degrees will command nothing more than $30K/year for someone just out of college, which is much less than a Journeyman Plumber who spent the same period in an Apprentice program.)
I got my start in the trades as a Drafter. I was working my first professional job when I was 18 after graduating Trade School (I had been working since I was 13). I didn't get paid a whole lot at the start, but even as a kid, I was aware of the need to have a marketable skill set (though I would've never used those exact words as a teenager).
There is a tremendous and growing skills gap between available jobs and those available to fill them. A recent article by Rick Badie discusses this problem. The article points to a machine shop with positions to fill, a stack of resumes, but no one qualified to take the available positions. This problem is happening all over the country. It's even a little frustrating. There are availble jobs. By some estimates, openings are literally in the millions that aren't getting filled!
mikeroweWorks was started by Mike Rowe, who is also trying to raise awareness of the opportunities in the trades, but also working to improve respect for the job that these tradesmen perform.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Notion: dimensional time eliminates need for branching universes
This post is only going to be a superficial discussion and isn't going to explain anything in any real depth. I'm trying to simplify advanced quantum physics in the best way a "lay" person can.
In 1957, Hugh Everett introduced the idea of branching universes to solve a problem we encountered regarding seemingly random choices that the elements of the universe (waveforms in particular) when observed. Sometimes light appears as a wave, sometimes as a particle, and there is no way to know which a head of time. Everett suggested that the light doesn't make a choice when is it forced into one form or the other. It is always both a wave and a particle. The Universe branches into two each time the light is observed and forced to make a choice. In one Universe, you observe light beam taking on wave behavior. In the other Universe, another-you observes the light take on a particle behavior. Thus, the idea of branching Universes says that a two Universes are created every time a choice like this is made. There's a certain bit of faith required to believe this, but pure math doesn't lie, right?
The challenge
Now, I'm no physicists. I'm not going to challenge the math that goes into this notion. It's been tested many times and found to be sound. However, math is nothing more than a numeric language that we created ourselves to parse out elements of the Universe to understand it in our terms. Keywords being "our terms".
Everett's assertions about branching Universes (or Many-worlds interpretation, as it is formally called) are based on time being both linear and two dimensional at the same time. Each branching Universe is 1 dimensional, created within 2 dimensional time, like branching lines being doodled on a piece of paper. Well, that means it could be said time is 1.5 dimensional. I know many physicists will cringe at my interpretation of branching Universes. However, at least from an intellectual point of view, this seems to me to be a reasonable simplification. My point is the the concept of branching Universes offers an unnecessarily complex and convoluted explanation for something as simple as a beam of light acting one way instead of another.
Spontaneous creation of matter and energy?
Another problem I have with branching Universes is this. Where is all the infinite energy coming from to create all these infinite branches? Infinite energy is the same as infinite mass (E=mc2). If the Universe really started off with all of this infinite energy, it would have immediately collapsed back on itself, never to grow in the first place. Or, if the energy didn't exist at the Big Bang, there's no mechanism now that can continuously double the energy within a Universe to spawn new versions of itself. Thermodynamics has yet to be disproved by quantum physics.
Why is gravity so heavy?
Yet another problem. If gravity exists outside of the Universe, as current understanding quantum physics now suggests, it would be impacted by the creation of new branches of the Universe. As such, even if infinite energy is being created on the fly (as opposed to being there at the start of the Universe), gravity would weaken so rapidly, its decaying influence on this Universe could be readily measured and would likely lead each Universe to fly apart to nothingness shortly after the Big Bang. There wouldn't be enough gravity to form a single dust particle, let alone entire galaxies.
Every point in the Universe knows about every other point, 13 billion light years away?
One more problem? Sure. For entire Universes to be created instantly and constantly by the actions of a single particle or waveform in a highly localized point, every bit of energy, every particle, everything that exists would have to be instantly duplicated. These means that every bit of energy, every particle, everything in existence would have to be in instantaneous communication with every other bit of energy, particle and every object in the Universe, 13 billion light years across! This creates a new problem! If the action of every particle in the Universe has the ability to replicate the entire Universe, the information of the Universe has to be immediately available to all points within the Universe at the same time. But if the Universe is constantly branching, there is no preferred frame of reference from which the Universe can be infinitely replicated! There's no sorting mechanism to give one choice a preference over another when they happen at the same time. This leads to yet another problem.
Branching causes information bottleneck
The very act of infinitely and instantly replicating the Universe would create huge gaps in information on whatever the current state Universe is in. Things happen simultaneously all the time. How are quadrillions of simultaneous actions supposed to be instantly reconciled to instantly form quadrillion x quadrillion Universes? Some suggest that the ends of the Universe (whatever is just beyond 13 billion light years in any direction) may already be out of touch with each other. This would make the Universe impossible to instantly resolve to form all of these simultaneous branches. Even if all information about the Universe is known to all points in the Universe at any given instant, there would be a measurable bottleneck of the branching activity. Time would slow down at an increasingly observable rate.
2D Time makes branching unnecessary anyway
Here's the kicker. If the Universe is 1 dimensionally branching within 2 dimensional time, then time is already considered 2 dimensional. If time is 2 dimensional, then there's no need for the branching to take place. If the Universe is a waveform in 2 dimensional time, the objects within it are smeared across this these two time dimensions. We are simply seeing a 1 dimensional view of our Universe intersecting with 2 dimensional time.
Ball passing through a plane acts the same as our view of time
This is similar to a 3 dimensional ball that passes through 2 dimensional plane. As the ball passes through the plane, an observer on the plane simply sees a line that grows, then shrinks. He doesn't see the ball itself. Depending on where the ball intersects the plane, the observer sees a shorter or longer line (even just a point). Any measurement of the line is just as valid as any other, but only the portion that intersects the plane can be measured at any one time. So, this is also true of the Universe if time is 2 dimensions, and the Universe is a waveform that intersects it at different points. We simply see different view points of the same event each time we make an observation. There's nothing random about the observations! We just cannot see the whole shape in our limited view!
We aren't creating new branches of the Universe when the Universe "makes a choice". We are simply observing where our Universe is intersected by 2D time!
When we observe something that forces the Universe to "make a choice", it's not random. We are simply observing which portion of our Universe (or the element being observed) is currently intersecting within the 2 dimensional time. This doesn't mean that there aren't parallel Universes that resemble our own. It just means that those Universes have been there since the Big Bang (not branching), using a measurable portion of the Big Bang's energy for their formation, just as our Universe has.
To be clear, I offer the above as a notion to point to other interpretation of Quantum Physics. It's not meant to be the final word on anything, nor does it represent a tightly held belief of my own. I certainly haven't done any math to back any of this up. However, I do believe there are physicists that are already moving along similar paths of reasoning, so I'm trying to get the word out as the concept of branching Universes has been gaining momentum in recent years with very little in the way of observations to back it up.
In 1957, Hugh Everett introduced the idea of branching universes to solve a problem we encountered regarding seemingly random choices that the elements of the universe (waveforms in particular) when observed. Sometimes light appears as a wave, sometimes as a particle, and there is no way to know which a head of time. Everett suggested that the light doesn't make a choice when is it forced into one form or the other. It is always both a wave and a particle. The Universe branches into two each time the light is observed and forced to make a choice. In one Universe, you observe light beam taking on wave behavior. In the other Universe, another-you observes the light take on a particle behavior. Thus, the idea of branching Universes says that a two Universes are created every time a choice like this is made. There's a certain bit of faith required to believe this, but pure math doesn't lie, right?
The challenge
Now, I'm no physicists. I'm not going to challenge the math that goes into this notion. It's been tested many times and found to be sound. However, math is nothing more than a numeric language that we created ourselves to parse out elements of the Universe to understand it in our terms. Keywords being "our terms".
Everett's assertions about branching Universes (or Many-worlds interpretation, as it is formally called) are based on time being both linear and two dimensional at the same time. Each branching Universe is 1 dimensional, created within 2 dimensional time, like branching lines being doodled on a piece of paper. Well, that means it could be said time is 1.5 dimensional. I know many physicists will cringe at my interpretation of branching Universes. However, at least from an intellectual point of view, this seems to me to be a reasonable simplification. My point is the the concept of branching Universes offers an unnecessarily complex and convoluted explanation for something as simple as a beam of light acting one way instead of another.
Spontaneous creation of matter and energy?
Another problem I have with branching Universes is this. Where is all the infinite energy coming from to create all these infinite branches? Infinite energy is the same as infinite mass (E=mc2). If the Universe really started off with all of this infinite energy, it would have immediately collapsed back on itself, never to grow in the first place. Or, if the energy didn't exist at the Big Bang, there's no mechanism now that can continuously double the energy within a Universe to spawn new versions of itself. Thermodynamics has yet to be disproved by quantum physics.
Why is gravity so heavy?
Yet another problem. If gravity exists outside of the Universe, as current understanding quantum physics now suggests, it would be impacted by the creation of new branches of the Universe. As such, even if infinite energy is being created on the fly (as opposed to being there at the start of the Universe), gravity would weaken so rapidly, its decaying influence on this Universe could be readily measured and would likely lead each Universe to fly apart to nothingness shortly after the Big Bang. There wouldn't be enough gravity to form a single dust particle, let alone entire galaxies.
Every point in the Universe knows about every other point, 13 billion light years away?
One more problem? Sure. For entire Universes to be created instantly and constantly by the actions of a single particle or waveform in a highly localized point, every bit of energy, every particle, everything that exists would have to be instantly duplicated. These means that every bit of energy, every particle, everything in existence would have to be in instantaneous communication with every other bit of energy, particle and every object in the Universe, 13 billion light years across! This creates a new problem! If the action of every particle in the Universe has the ability to replicate the entire Universe, the information of the Universe has to be immediately available to all points within the Universe at the same time. But if the Universe is constantly branching, there is no preferred frame of reference from which the Universe can be infinitely replicated! There's no sorting mechanism to give one choice a preference over another when they happen at the same time. This leads to yet another problem.
Branching causes information bottleneck
The very act of infinitely and instantly replicating the Universe would create huge gaps in information on whatever the current state Universe is in. Things happen simultaneously all the time. How are quadrillions of simultaneous actions supposed to be instantly reconciled to instantly form quadrillion x quadrillion Universes? Some suggest that the ends of the Universe (whatever is just beyond 13 billion light years in any direction) may already be out of touch with each other. This would make the Universe impossible to instantly resolve to form all of these simultaneous branches. Even if all information about the Universe is known to all points in the Universe at any given instant, there would be a measurable bottleneck of the branching activity. Time would slow down at an increasingly observable rate.
2D Time makes branching unnecessary anyway
Here's the kicker. If the Universe is 1 dimensionally branching within 2 dimensional time, then time is already considered 2 dimensional. If time is 2 dimensional, then there's no need for the branching to take place. If the Universe is a waveform in 2 dimensional time, the objects within it are smeared across this these two time dimensions. We are simply seeing a 1 dimensional view of our Universe intersecting with 2 dimensional time.
Ball passing through a plane acts the same as our view of time
This is similar to a 3 dimensional ball that passes through 2 dimensional plane. As the ball passes through the plane, an observer on the plane simply sees a line that grows, then shrinks. He doesn't see the ball itself. Depending on where the ball intersects the plane, the observer sees a shorter or longer line (even just a point). Any measurement of the line is just as valid as any other, but only the portion that intersects the plane can be measured at any one time. So, this is also true of the Universe if time is 2 dimensions, and the Universe is a waveform that intersects it at different points. We simply see different view points of the same event each time we make an observation. There's nothing random about the observations! We just cannot see the whole shape in our limited view!
We aren't creating new branches of the Universe when the Universe "makes a choice". We are simply observing where our Universe is intersected by 2D time!
When we observe something that forces the Universe to "make a choice", it's not random. We are simply observing which portion of our Universe (or the element being observed) is currently intersecting within the 2 dimensional time. This doesn't mean that there aren't parallel Universes that resemble our own. It just means that those Universes have been there since the Big Bang (not branching), using a measurable portion of the Big Bang's energy for their formation, just as our Universe has.
To be clear, I offer the above as a notion to point to other interpretation of Quantum Physics. It's not meant to be the final word on anything, nor does it represent a tightly held belief of my own. I certainly haven't done any math to back any of this up. However, I do believe there are physicists that are already moving along similar paths of reasoning, so I'm trying to get the word out as the concept of branching Universes has been gaining momentum in recent years with very little in the way of observations to back it up.
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