Toronto

I would like to express sympathy for how especially difficult life is during Toronto's lockdown. I have put together the earlier visits to Toronto, with the exception of "West Of Toronto" which remains as a separate posting. During my life not too far away I have watched the amazing growth of this city. It seems that nearly everyone wants to live there.

The eastern part of Toronto is known as Scarborough. Here is a look around, starting at Scarborough Town Centre.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move onto the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7761893,-79.2565835,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sWTPVHcOHF-ztjeDsOuZOUA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DWTPVHcOHF-ztjeDsOuZOUA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D81.32722%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Proceeding downtown, some modern buildings that I have always admired are those of the Toronto Dominion Bank. They were the first tall buildings in downtown Toronto. I remember when the first two of these buildings are what could be seen of the skyline of Toronto, from a distance:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre#/media/File:CN_Tempo_service_to_Sarnia.jpg

This is what the buildings look like from ground level:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre#/media/File:Mies_van_der_rohe_3-6-2006.jpg

This is the TD Centre from the CN Tower observation deck. The rest of the images are views around downtown.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6425409,-79.3888189,3a,15y,317.83h,74.45t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSLjNFWFq_DU-9veMxBeUtA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Every large city has it's area of really expensive shopping. In Toronto, that area is known as Yorkville. The section of Bloor Street in this area is known as the "Mink Mile". The first of the following scenes are from the intersection of Bloor and Bay Streets, on the Mink Mile, looking into Yorkville. The rest of the scenes are from around the area:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6697242,-79.3894366,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sC6kPk8EJ7J_QLVIf-S4zHg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DC6kPk8EJ7J_QLVIf-S4zHg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D7.1668229%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656 

I want to celebrate the amazing growth of Toronto. The last I knew, the population of the Toronto metro area was about four million people. The news came that it's population has now passed six million. This is the city where everyone seems to want to live.

The tallest structure in Toronto is the CN Tower. The idea began as a radio antenna platform conceived by CN, Canadian National, the railroad company. This explains why there are railroad tracks not far from the base of the tower. From there, the idea developed into what was then the tallest structure in the world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower#/media/File:Toronto_-_ON_-_Toronto_Harbourfront7.jpg

The most visible sight in Toronto is the pod of the CN Tower, where the observation deck and revolving restaurant are located:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower#/media/File:Toronto_-_ON_-_CN_Tower_Turmkorb.jpg

The CN Tower was opened in 1976. I remember the news that it had surpassed the height of the Ostankino Tower in Moscow by a few meters to become the tallest structure in the world. Before that, I remember as a boy on a school trip by bus to the Ontario Science Centre, going past the tower under construction and watching structural pieces being brought to the top by helicopter.

Toronto's most important business is banking. It is the headquarters of Canada's "Big Five" banks. These are 1) Bank of Montreal 2) Toronto Dominion Bank (TD Bank) 3) Scotiabank 4) Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and, 5) Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). This is not necessarily their order in size or volume. Nearby is Bay Street, which is Canada's financial center.

Here is a photo looking toward the financial district from the CN Tower. The tall white building is First Canadian Place, home of the Bank of Montreal. The black skyscraper closer to the foreground is the home of Toronto Dominion Bank, including the two shorter identical black buildings next to it. The tall reddish building beyond the white One Canada Place, with the V inscribed in the structure of it's upper floors, is the Scotiabank Building. The mirror-like building, which is the fourth of the four tallest buildings in the photo, holds the headquarters of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The buildings to the right, with the stepped terraced upper stories, as well as the reddish reflective glass building, are where the local headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) are:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Toronto_From_CN_Tower.jpg

Great cities usually have a square which is right at the center of the city. The square with the fountains, where there is skating in the winter, is Nathan Phillips Square named for a former Toronto mayor. In this photo, the stone building on the right is the Old City Hall, still a significant structure in Toronto with it's clock tower, the two facing hemispheric buildings are the modern city hall:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Phillips_Square#/media/File:Toronto_-_ON_-_Rathaus_und_Nathan_Phillips_Square.jpg

A view along Bay Street, Canada's financial center, leads to the clock tower of the Old City Hall:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Street#/media/File:Bay_Street_May_2010.jpg

We also saw Toronto City Hall on the North America Travel Photo Blog. The reason that there are not more photos of Toronto on that blog is simply that I live close enough to Toronto that going there isn't really "traveling":

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5492/3756/1600/2.jpg

The Eaton Centre Shopping Mall, in downtown Toronto, is the busiest mall in North America. This mall was originally supposed to be larger, but there was resistance to razing Old City Hall and the adjacent Trinity Anglican Church. How many malls get a million visitors a week, and not just at Christmas?

Following are some images, starting at the Ontario Legislature, and proceeding to nearby universities, including the University of Toronto.

Many discoveries have been made at the University of Toronto. The best-known is the discovery of insulin, but it is believed to also be where stem cell research first began and where a practical electron microscope was first used. The university was instrumental in identifying Cygnus X-1 as the first identified black hole. A professor at the university, Marshall McLuhan, coined the widely-used therm "global village".

The area around here is known as the "Discovery District", due to the universities, research hospitals and museums. The museums include the ROM, the Royal Ontario Museum. This area also brings back childhood memories because, when we first landed in Canada in the late 1960s, my brother was deaf and went for treatments at the Hospital For Sick Children.

Toronto is the largest city in Canada, but not the capital of the country. It is the provincial capital of Ontario. The red stone building in the images is the Legislature at Queen's Park, the downtown Ontario Government complex. It is called Queen's Park because that is the name of the park next to it. Notice the similarity in the red sandstone structures of the Ontario Legislature Building and the Old City Hall, seen above.:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6618924,-79.3913047,3a,75y,328.87h,103.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZGa-FLJKwT7NCpg6sw63Rg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Downtown is not all modern skyscrapers. Two widely-known older buildings are Union Station, for trains and linking to the subway system, and the Royal York Hotel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Station_(Toronto)#/media/File:Union_Station,_Toronto_(30427373561).jpg

Like the nearby CN Tower, the Royal York Hotel was the project of a railroad company, to give travelers a nice place to stay, in this case Canadian Pacific (CP). It was opened in 1929, and serves as the residence of the royal family when visiting Toronto. The two black buildings immediately to the right of the Royal York Hotel are part of the Toronto Dominion Bank Complex, described above. The reddish section of building to the far right of the photo is the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York#/media/File:Toronto_-_ON_-_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg

One of the most famous food marketplaces in the world is the St. Lawrence market, in the oldest section of Toronto near Lake Ontario. This was actually the location of Toronto's original city hall:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence_Market#/media/File:St._Lawrence_Market_(Unsplash).jpg

Following are some images around the Old Town area of the St. Lawrence Market. In the first image, there is something of interest to older residents of the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Does anyone remember the Clifton Memorial Arch, near the falls? I remember it when I first landed nearby as a boy. It was removed in 1968 after it was decided that it was a hindrance to traffic. I found out that the circular medallions, on opposite sides at the top of the arch, were removed before it was demolished. These two circular medallions are now mounted together on Front Street, diagonally opposite the St. Lawrence market. Look at the circular image of a ship on the sunlit side of the arch, near the top, in the upper right corner of the photo. To see this, you will have to enlarge the photo by pressing the "+" sign several times:

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=380332&b=1

Now, look at the circular medallion of a ship, mounted on the sidewalk on Front Street. The brick St. Lawrence Market is on the diagonal opposite side of the intersection with Jarvis Street:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6497163,-79.3715867,3a,37.5y,82.39h,84.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spQ5mn_2AxM9mrcv5cdGb0w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Many cities have claimed to have had the first system of electric streetcars, including Toronto. At any rate, Toronto today definitely has the largest system of electric streetcars in use in North America.

The one disadvantage of Toronto is, of course, the winter. Many people may not know that Toronto has actually solved that. There is what is believed to the the most extensive underground city in the world, known as PATH. Most of the tall buildings have shops, cafes and, restaurants at the lower level, below ground. All of these, as well as the malls, are linked by below-ground walkways. One can spend all day going around the stores within PATH, and scarcely be aware that it is winter. The same can be said for the heat of the summer. It may actually be better than walking on the surface because there is no vehicular traffic. 

I have never spent much time in PATH, simply because I usually go to Toronto on a nice day and there is no reason to spend the time below ground, but this system is really incredible and is easy to access by the subway.

The best-known street in Toronto is the north-south Yonge Street. Not many individual streets are known across the world, and this is one of them. I read that Yonge Street was actually named for a Canadian expert on ancient Roman roads. Just to the left of where that photo was taken is another downtown square, around which Toronto revolves, Yonge-Dundas Square. Here is a scene of that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonge-Dundas_Square#/media/File:Dundas_Squire_Evening_Saturday.jpg

Just about every major ethnic group in the world has a neighborhood in Toronto. The most visible is Chinatown, west of Yonge Street and the Eaton Centre, although this is not the only Chinatown in Toronto:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_Toronto#/media/File:Chinatown_toronto_spadina_avenue.JPG

Following are some images of Casa Loma and the older Toronto neighborhoods around it. Of Course, Casa Loma is not a "real" castle from medieval times, but it must have been what a great castle would have been like back then.

You know that you are in Toronto when you see older homes of the "Bay and Gable" design. I have not seen this home structural design anywhere else, the two-story bay windows capped by the gabled roof. This is in the Annex, a neighborhood adjacent to Toronto University that is home to many students and faculty:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay-and-gable#/media/File:Bay-and-gable_2.JPG

Here is starting inside Casa Loma, and the surrounding area:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6780646,-79.4094724,3a,75y,57.05h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s69lc5T_XAQ6oF1PLx-xpbg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D69lc5T_XAQ6oF1PLx-xpbg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D48.133572%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Every city has it's neighborhood of mansions, of people who made a fortune in one way or another. Central Toronto's such area is Rosedale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosedale,_Toronto#/media/File:Rosedale_Park_playground.JPG

Both World Wars were followed by settlement of planned communities in central Toronto. After the First World War, it was Leaside:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaside#/media/File:Leaside.jpg

After the Second World War, it was Don Mills. In the U.S., Levittown, NY, and then a second Levittown in Pennsylvania, became the prototypes for postwar suburban development. I think of Don Mills as fulfilling a similar postwar suburban development prototype for Toronto, and the rest of Canada:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Mills#/media/File:Don_Mills_homes.JPG

Here is something that I find really amazing. Have you ever wondered what the definition of the word "progress" is? Well, here is a definition of progress in three photographs.

This is downtown Toronto in 1970. The two modern black buildings are the complex of the Toronto Dominion Bank, that we saw above. The green-topped building to their right is the Royal York Hotel. The photo of the rail tracks is taken from near where the CN Tower will soon be built. You can see "CN" on the rail cars:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre#/media/File:CN_Tempo_service_to_Sarnia.jpg

Next, here is a photo, from the North America travel photo blog, that I took from the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in 1989, 19 years after the above photo was taken. If you pick out the two black Toronto Dominion buildings, near the center of the photo, you can see that a third and shorter Toronto Dominion building has been added. The taller light-colored building immediately left of the Toronto Dominion buildings is First Canadian Place, the home of the Bank of Montreal. Showing in the background is the reddish Scotiabank building, with the "V"-shape inscribed into it's upper floors. To the right of all this is, of course, the CN Tower, and all around are other tall buildings that were not there 19 years before. If you look closely, you can see the pointed top of the Royal York Hotel, between the Toronto Dominion buildings and the CN Tower:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5492/3756/1600/4.jpg

Now, look at this more recent photo. The white First Canadian Place building, with the Bank of Montreal, is there, as are the black buildings of the Toronto Dominion Complex, to it's right. In the background is the reddish Scotiabank building, with the V-shape inscribed into it's upper floors. The stone structure of the Royal York Hotel, with it's green-peaked roof, can be seen in the lower left of the photo. But there are an incredible number of modern buildings that were not there in 1989. This is progress, Toronto-style:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Toronto_From_CN_Tower.jpg 

NORTH YORK

In the postwar period, as the Baby Boom generation emerged, what we could describe as a "new" Toronto, to the north of the city, also emerged. The city had to grow to support the burgeoning population and immigration, but Lake Ontario blocked expansion to the south. This new, mostly postwar, version of Toronto is known as North York.

The reason that the name of "York" is to be seen all over Toronto is that was the original name of the city, starting with Fort York. I believe that the name was changed to differentiate it from New York City. The House of Lancaster may have defeated the House of York in the "War of the Roses", that ended the Plantagenet era, but the House of York has been much more successful since then at getting it's name everywhere.

Different countries had their own ways of managing the necessary postwar development, to accommodate the Baby Boom. America built it's prototype postwar suburb in Levittown, New York, and then the second Levittown in Pennsylvania. Britain established the prototype postwar "new town" in Milton Keynes. Toronto seems to have used both concepts in the growth of North York.

From the top of the CN Tower downtown, the skyline of another city can be seen to the north. That is North York, although since the sweeping municipal amalgamation of 1998 it has administratively been part of Toronto. By some accounts Highway 401, where it passes through North York, is the busiest section of highway in North America.

Like any city, North York has it's wealthy areas, as well as those that are somewhat less than wealthy. The center of wealth in North York is around the York Mills area. The areas to the northwest, Lawrence Heights and especially Jane-Finch are perceived as less fortunate, although I do not believe that the Jane-Finch area deserves anything like the rap it sometimes gets.

These buildings are a familiar sight from the Don Valley Parkway, through North York:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemingdon_Park#/media/File:The_Palisades.jpg

The outside of the Ontario Science Centre reminds me of youthful school outings there:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Science_Centre#/media/File:0OSC_Sept23_06.jpg

Let's start our look at North York at the intersection of Yonge Street and Bishop Avenue, which is where both Finch Metro Station and Finch Bus Station are located.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7816823,-79.4158463,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sHislTpB_jjnzh6pRJ9kfig!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DHislTpB_jjnzh6pRJ9kfig%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D304.58841%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Moving westward, let's have another look beginning outside the Yorkdale Mall:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7263103,-79.4521981,3a,75y,184.13h,87.87t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s_Jz7lFIjx30AAAQJOMDjTg!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656

Here are some views of York University, starting in the Student Centre:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7739005,-79.5030816,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s2Jo3GGSrioYAAAQvOdjbdg!2e0!3e2!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D2Jo3GGSrioYAAAQvOdjbdg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D64.624062%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Finally Jane-Finch, named for the intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue, has the housing towers seen in many North York neighbourhoods, but looks like a nice place to me. Here are some scenes of the area, starting in the Jane-Finch Mall:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7558776,-79.5157189,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s7nyAM4rRrpoAAAQfDmzs4A!2e0!3e2!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D7nyAM4rRrpoAAAQfDmzs4A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D24.754307%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

The Missing Quark Stars

In the postwar period so many new subatomic particles were discovered that it was referred to as the "Particle Zoo". But there were some physicists who didn't believe that there could really be this many separate particles.

As it turned out there was too many fundamental particles. What emerged is Quark Theory. Quarks were believed to be particles that are even more fundamental, and that combine together with each other to form what we see as many of the fundamental particles.

Particles that are composed of quarks are called hadrons. Two very important hadrons are protons and neutrons, which form the nuclei of atoms. Not all subatomic particles are composed of quarks. Electrons are of a class of particles called leptons, which do not involve quarks.

There are theorized to be six kinds of quarks, and also their corresponding antiquarks of antimatter. But two of these quarks, up and down quarks, are far more important than the others. It is believed that, if all quarks other than up and down quarks vanished tomorrow, only particle physicists would notice.

Up and down quarks are charged particles, but have charges in thirds relative to the equal but opposite charges on protons and electrons. These quarks combine in thirds to produce hadrons like protons and neutrons. 

An up quark has a charge of + 2 / 3 and a down quark has a charge of - 1 / 3. So two up quarks and one down quark form a proton, with a net charge of +1, and two down quarks and one up quark form a neutron, with a net charge of zero.

With that understanding of quarks let's move on to the end of the lives of stars. The largest stars may collapse into a black hole or explode in a supernova. Our own sun will do neither, it will simply burn out.

Stars form when enough matter is pulled together by it's mutual gravity to overcome the electron repulsion that keeps stars separate from one another, and crunch smaller atoms together into larger ones. A new larger atom contains less overall energy than the smaller atoms which were crunched together to form it. This excess energy is released as radiation and this is why stars shine. A planet does not shine because it is not massive enough for it's internal gravity to overcome electron repulsion.

A star is an equilibrium between the outward force of the energy being released by fusion in the star's center and the inward force of gravity. A star may swell, or explode in a supernova, when the process of fusing successively heavier atoms together means that the energy being released per time is increasing, and this upsets the equilibrium.

But the end of the star comes from the opposite direction, when the star runs out of fusionable fuel but is not large enough to explode in a supernova. The ordinary fusion process cannot go beyond iron. This upsets the equilibrium by removing the outward pressure of the energy being released, causing the star to collapse inward.

Stars are composed of atoms, with lighter atoms continuously being combined by fusion into heavier atoms. When the star collapses the structure of the atoms are crushed by the sheer mutual gravity of the star's mass, now no longer opposed by the energy released by fusion. 

When fusion takes place the new heavier elements require more neutrons, relative to protons, in the nucleus. What happens is that, during fusion, an electron is crunched into a proton to produce a neutron. This is known as K-capture.

When the atomic structure of the star collapses this is what happens to all of the atoms. When the process is complete there are no more protons and electrons, all that there is left is an extremely dense mass of neutrons. It is now referred to as a neutron star, although it is not technically a star because no fusion is taking place.

The extreme density of a neutron star makes further collapse possible and eventually a black hole may form. A black hole is the most dense possible concentration of matter. It is known that black holes do not last forever. They give off radiation, called Hawking Radiation, and eventually evaporate.

Now, here is the question of the day. If the structure of stars that have collapsed into a neutron star can collapse still further, into a black hole, and neutrons are composed of quarks, then what about "quark stars"?

The existence of quark stars was theorized more than fifty years ago, but none have ever been found. The next step in the collapse should be for the neutrons of a neutron star to collapse into their component quarks. Many black holes have been found, and many neutron stars, but, as of yet, no quark stars.

How could this be? The way I see it, there are two possibilities. 

The first, of course, is that quark theory was incorrect all along. But it is believed by so many people and it explains so much.

My cosmology theory opens the way to another possibility. The theory, detailed in the compound posting on this blog, "The Theory Of Stationary Space", explains everything in the universe, both matter and space, as being composed of negative and positive electric charges. Space is a perfectly alternating pattern of negative and positive charges, in multiple dimensions. Matter is any concentration of like charges, held together against their mutual repulsion by energy.

The majority of the charge interfaces in matter are actually between opposite charges, and this is what holds the units of matter, such as atoms or neutrons, together. Since negative and positive electric charges must always balance out to zero, and particles that compose matter are usually charged, matter must consist of some structures, such as atoms or neutrons, that have a net charge of zero.

We cannot discern any structure of matter within black holes. Yet, given that black holes do not just explode in a gigantic matter-antimatter reaction, their matter must consist of some kind of structure.

In my cosmology theory the reason that black holes give off radiation, and eventually evaporate, is that their extreme gravitational pressure is enough to cause charge displacement to take place. Adjacent like charges, which are trying to mutually repel, are under so much pressure that negative and positive charges can "trade places". This does not mean any charged particles but the fundamental electric charges that comprise everything in the universe.

But that brings groups of opposite charges into direct contact with each other. They gradually rearrange themselves back into the alternating charge pattern of empty space, and in doing so release the energy that was holding them together. This is why a black hole gives off radiation and eventually evaporates, turning back into empty space.

But still, there must be some structure of matter within a black hole, the arrangement of the charges that comprise matter. What could that structure be? Has anyone ever thought that maybe it is quarks? That a black hole actually is a quark star? It would explain why quark theory explains so much, but we just can't find any quark stars that should exist.

The Wave Model Of Economics

Remember the posting, "The Wave Model Of Economics" on the world and economics blog. 

In this model waves exist in the economy over time. A "right wave" tends to be followed by a "left wave", which is followed by another "right wave". 

A country's leftward and rightward political parties tend to alternate in the same way but these left and right waves are longer than the typical alternation between rightward and leftward parties. The posting focuses on the U.S. but the same principle applies, at least to some extent, to any free-market democracy.

During a right or left wave both parties continue to alternate in power but during the right wave the whole system leans more to the right, and during the left wave to the left. Bill Clinton was a Democrat president during a right wave and Donald Trump was a Republican president during a left wave.

Joseph Biden's announcement of plans for the economy is moving the economy leftward. A recent article in Time Magazine made it sound like this is something new. 

But I see this as a continuation of the left wave that began with the Obama presidency. The changes made by Donald Trump were mainly about "making America great again" from a global perspective. The economic changes that the Trump administration made in the U.S., such as cutbacks in food stamps and Medicaid, were certainly rightward, but were not enough to terminate the left wave that was in progress.

The underlying reason for these "waves" in the economy, as well as the usual alternation of leftward and rightward parties, is complexity. Our economy is as complex as we are. This makes it difficult to grasp the entire economic picture. It is easier for each of us to see either the left or the right. 

So what ends up happening is that first we go too far in one direction. We then try to compensate for it by going in the opposite direction, only to go too far so that we then have to compensate for that by going back in the first direction, and on and on.

Here is a link to "The Wave Model Of Economics":

http://markmeekeconomics.blogspot.com/2011/08/wave-model-of-economics.html?m=0

London

St. George's Day, April 23, is my native England's national day. What I have done to celebrate is to combine together the short visits to London from several years ago. Today's visit also includes the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which are not in London, because these were in the same visit with Imperial College, which is in London.

PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

If we go back to the beginning of photography, my information is that the Houses of Parliament Building in London is the most photographed building in the world. It is an extremely attractive building that is seen across the world as standing for democracy. The actual name of the building is the Palace of Westminster. It has the status of a royal palace, but a king or queen has never lived in it. The building is used to conduct Britain's parliament, which is the legislative branch of government:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster#/media/File:Parliament_at_Sunset.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster#/media/File:The_Palace_of_Westminster_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1408776.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster#/media/File:North_Front_detail,_Palace_of_Westminster.jpg

The Palace of Westminster is not extremely old. It was constructed in the Nineteenth Century, after the preceding building was destroyed by fire. The tower at the south end of the building is the Victoria Tower:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster#/media/File:Victoria_Tower_from_Old_Palace_Yard.jpg

The tower at the north end of the building is the clock tower that houses Big Ben, which has become the symbol of London and of Britain. It was constructed in 1859. The actual name of the tower, but which no one seems to use, is the Elizabeth Tower. The building to the immediate right of Big Ben is Westminster Abbey, across the street from the Houses of Parliament, where most of the kings and queens have been crowned, married and, buried for nearly a thousand years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster#/media/File:Big_Ben_2007-1.jpg

Many large bells eventually crack at their weakest spot. But that can actually be a good thing, because it is what gives a bell it's distinctive sound.

Here are scenes inside the Houses of Parliament, the palace of Westminster:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster#/media/File:Barack_Obama_in_the_Members%27_Lobby_of_the_Palace_of_Westminster,_2011.jpg

This is the House of Lords, the upper house:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster#/media/File:Lords_Chamber_(landscape).jpg

This is Westminster Abbey:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Abbey#/media/File:Westminster_Abbey_Interior.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Westminster-Abbey.JPG

It has long been forgotten, but Westminster Abbey and the site of the Houses of Parliament were once on an island in the Thames River, known as Thorney Island. One of the channels between the island and the mainland has long since been filled in, and the former island is remembered only in the name of a street.

The main royal residence, Buckingham Palace, and the residence of the Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, are nearby:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace#/media/File:Buckingham_Palace_from_gardens,_London,_UK_-_Diliff_(cropped).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Downing_Street#/media/File:10_Downing_Street._MOD_45155532

The Magna Carta had been signed in 1215, limiting the power of the king. This shows the British way of doing things. The French royal family went under the guillotine, the Russian royal family went in front of the firing squad. But the British royal family accepted a compromise reduction in power, and so are still with us today.

In 1341, parliament had an upper and lower house for the first time. This is known as a bicameral legislature. The lower house is known as the House of Commons, and a British prime minister must retain the support of a majority in the House of Commons to stay in power. A prime minister would be replaced by his own ruling party any time he lost such a majority.

Under the parliamentary system of government, it is not often that a prime minister is replaced while in power. The only recent examples that I can think of are Margaret Thatcher, in Britain, and Brian Mulroney, in Canada. The countries that use the presidential system do not work this way, and a president cannot be readily removed and replaced by his own party if he becomes unpopular. For this reason there is no such thing as impeachment in the parliamentary system.

The U.S., France and the central and South American countries tend to use the presidential system. The rest of the democracies use the parliamentary system. Germany calls it's leader the chancellor, but it is really a prime minister.

The impression I get is that, if a king or queen is present, a country is likely to choose the parliamentary system so that the prime minister becomes the leader of the parliament which acts as a balance to the power of the monarchy, to create a democracy. But when there is no monarchy, the country effectively creates a temporary constitutional monarch in the form of a president, which is then balanced by a congress. In countries that have both a president and a prime minister, the president tends to be a mostly ceremonial position.

The primary difference between the two systems is that, in the parliamentary system, one is voting for the party rather than for the prime minister himself. The prime minister is simply the one selected by the ruling party to govern, and can readily be replaced by the party any time he becomes unpopular. In the presidential system, one is voting more for the leader himself, and a president cannot be readily removed while in power.

The parliamentary system is more flexible, and it would be very difficult for a prime minister to make himself into a dictator. The presidential system probably has more stability, since parliamentary governments often end up with a coalition government, if any one party fails to get a majority. A number of presidents, in countries that use the presidential system, have succeeded in making themselves effectively into dictators by manipulating the laws to allow unlimited consecutive terms.

Presidential democracies tend to have fixed term elections, while prime ministers have to hold elections within a fixed time frame, to remain in power, and can call the election at any time within the required time frame. The fixed-term elections of presidential systems make for long election cycles, and put much more emphasis on campaigning than in the parliamentary system. Countries that use the parliamentary system like it this way, claiming that a long campaign means that a party that is less-capable at governing can still manage to get into power by being better at campaigning.

The upper house of the British Parliament is the House of Lords. Unlike the House of Commons, whose members are elected, the Lords are appointed. In a way, the House of Lords is like a museum of British history. The Anglican Church, the Church of England, is assigned seats for 26 bishops in the House of Lords. These bishops are known as the Lords Spiritual.

There are others in the House of Lords, known as the Lords Temporal. Many of these are hereditary peerages, where the nobility of medieval times lives on. The House of Lords used to have a judicial function as well, acting as Britain's highest court of appeals, but Britain now has a supreme court.

However, Britain is a true democracy and government revolves around the House of Commons. The House of Lords, while actually larger than the House of Commons, can only delay bills and not block them altogether.

As for one's opinion as to whether bishops and nobles should be actually involved in government in the Twenty-First Century, that depends on one's political views. There are a few liberals and socialists who would like to eliminate the House of Lords altogether.

Here is a refresher on the ranks of nobility, although it varied by country:

1) Emperor or Empress-an emperor is above a king because an emperor, unlike the king, might rule more than one country. Also, no one is above an emperor although a king might be under the rule of an emperor or of another king.

2) King or Queen

3) Archduke

4) Prince or Princess-usually a child of a king or queen, but is also a separate title of nobility. The fact that Wales, now a part of Britain, used to be a principality lives on today in the royal title "Prince of Wales". But this does not mean that the holder of the title is Welsh. Britain gives the title "Prince of Wales" to the next in line for king, what other monarchies call the "heir apparent" or the "Crown Prince".

5) Duke or Duchess

6) Count or Countess

7) Baron or Baroness

8) Knight- a squire was a young apprentice knight. In Feudalism, a knight was given the use of land, by a Lord, in exchange for military service. A knight was expected to be brave, even to the point of being foolish.

9) Yeoman-was a servant to a noble family.

It is no coincidence that the modern military ranks of Field Marshall, General, Colonel, Major, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Corporal and, Private, closely parallel the medieval ranks of nobility.

Here are some scenes at and around the Parliament Buildings. Big Ben, the clock tower, has the historical resonance that all great monuments must have because the Prime Meridian, from which longitude and thus time is measured, is defined from London. The building that looks like a cathedral, across the street from the Parliament Buildings, is Westminster Abbey. It is not considered as an ordinary cathedral, because it is where kings and queens have been crowned, married and, buried, for nearly a thousand years. This is far older than the Parliament Buildings.

If something looks a little bit out of place in these images, it is likely that you are in a country that drives on the right side of the road, while Britain drives on the left.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4992598,-0.1260288,3a,75y,38.45h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sOJuXqmzDdeItEkOrManVKQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DOJuXqmzDdeItEkOrManVKQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D26.30552%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 

WHITEHALL AND ST. JAMES

Let's visit the two adjacent areas of London known as Whitehall and St. James. Both are right in the center of London, and immediately north of the Parliament Buildings.

Whitehall is a street which gives it's name to the district. The street is the center of Britain's government and runs from the Parliament Buildings to Trafalgar Square. Adjoining St. James is an exclusive area adjacent to Buckingham Palace and being named for St. James Palace, built by Henry VIII (The Eighth), that was the royal residence before Buckingham Palace was built.

Whitehall extends northward from the "Parliament Buildings", which we have just visited. You can see the Parliament Buildings, and the top of Big Ben, at the southern end of Whitehall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehall#/media/File:Whitehall_2012.JPG

Whitehall was originally the name of a great palace, that was the royal residence from 1530-1698, before nearby St. James Palace. Whitehall Palace was believed to be the largest palace in Europe. Henry VIII, who is considered to have reigned at the peak of Britain's monarchy, actually died at Whitehall Palace.

There were two separate fires at Whitehall Palace, the first in 1691 and the second seven years later. What remains of the palace today is known as the Banqueting House. This is the Banqueting House. The origin of the name "Whitehall" is really simple, it refers to the color of the building stone in the area.

For this visit, I decided to use mostly the Geograph project that is photographing all of Britain and Ireland. 

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5324507

One of the most prominent buildings in Whitehall is the Horse Guards Building, from the mid-18th Century. The area behind the building has been a parade ground for centuries.

A http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/894263

B http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1409551

C http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1021951

D http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5654010

The Cenotaph, on Whitehall Street, is considered as Britain's most important war memorial.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1417686

Around Whitehall there are many statues. At the Admiralty Building is a statue of Captain James Cook. He was the first European to discover Hawaii, and why there is a British flag on the state flag of Hawaii.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5600221

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Hawaii#/media/File:Flag_of_Hawaii.svg

Until the 1960s, this was Britain's version of the Pentagon. Like the Pentagon, it is an oddly-shaped building.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3101389

Admiralty House used to be the headquarters of the navy, and prime ministers have also lived here.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5325031

The Old Treasury Building is also in Whitehall.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5347443

Off Whitehall runs Downing Street. 10 Downing Street is the residence of Britain's Prime Minister. It is within easy walking distance of both the Parliament Buildings and Buckingham Palace.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2956421

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5460596

The reason that the police are referred to as "Scotland Yard" is simply the street that it was located on, running off Whitehall. Ironically, a dismembered female body was found when the foundation of the police building was being dug and the mystery has never been solved.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3154497

There is also entertainment on Whitehall.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2064248

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1419082

Whitehall is separated from St. James by The Mall, the ceremonial royal route that leads from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4473001

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2982981

When a foreign leader is visiting, flags of that nation may be alternated with the British flags along The Mall. Don't forget that, if something seems out-of-place in these photos, it is because Britain drives on the left side of the road.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2068712

The Mall goes through the Admiralty Arch, which was built in 1912.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3545811

The adjacent district of St. James is named, of course, for St. James Palace. Henry VIII (the eighth) was fond of red brick palaces, and this was the royal residence before Buckingham Palace was built. There wasn't room in the middle of London to build the vast palace complex that Henry really wanted, so he built what is now called Hampton Court Palace to the southwest of London. The following scenes are of St. James Palace. You can see in the posting on this blog, "Hampton Court Palace And The King James Bible", how Hampton Court is of the same design as St. James, but takes up far more space.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2984189

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5695754

Next to St. James Palace is Marlborough House. This is actually the headquarters of the Commonwealth. It is not really the "British Commonwealth", as it is sometimes referred to, because all nations of the Commonwealth are equal partners. More than one-quarter of the nations of the world are members of the Commonwealth. The nations of the Commonwealth do all that they can to make the world a better place.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1092495

In the middle of St. James is the square of that name. The library on the square is typical of the architecture of St. James.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/715713

Like Marlborough House, many of the buildings in the St. James district originated as homes of the nobility. Here are some other former such homes nearby. The former Clarendon House is not there any more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon_House#/media/File:ClarendonHouse_Circa1680Engraving_ByWmSkillmam.jpg

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5584970

One of the best-known organizations in St. James is the Royal Society. It is located in Carlton House Terrace. The Royal Society is the world's original organization dedicated to the promotion of science.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/613338

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3075020

England has always valued science. As one example, everything is made of atoms. Did you know that all three components of the atom, electrons, protons and, neutrons, were all discovered in England?

There have traditionally been a lot of exclusive clubs located in the St. James area.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/846256

The first of the following scenes of the general area of central London, beyond Whitehall and St. James, is at the north end of Whitehall. You can see the top of Big Ben in the distance at the other end of the street. 90 degrees to the right is the Admiralty Arch which leads, by way of The Mall that we saw above, to Buckingham Palace. 90 degrees to the right of that is Trafalgar Square. You can see the dome of the National Gallery on the other side of the square. 90 degrees to the right of that is the entrance to The Strand, which is one of the most important streets of London.

There are a number of equestrian statues around London. Some people believe that if the horse has both front feet off the ground in the statue, it means that the rider died in battle. If the horse has one foot lifted, it means that the rider was wounded in battle. If both feet are on the ground then the rider was never wounded in battle. But other people say that this is not true.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5072704,-0.1274632,3a,75y,120.98h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjYt3FiPXHQFz5Ybs_5MZDw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DjYt3FiPXHQFz5Ybs_5MZDw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D133.96597%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

I am a native of England, although not of London. The place where I had originally come from is what we saw in the posting on this blog, "Placid Britain". The wider area is seen in the posting "Gloucestershire And Herefordshire". If you wonder why British counties are called "shires", it is because "county" is a term that was introduced by the Normans, and the name of shire is from before that.

CENTRAL LONDON

The first of the following scenes is the side of St. James Palace. Most of the scenes are of nearby Buckingham Palace, where the queen now lives. The building with the complex system of domes is the Horse Guards Building. The Treasury Building can also be seen.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5046341,-0.1368799,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ssQv44dHUg0UT9IxM7uUlWQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DsQv44dHUg0UT9IxM7uUlWQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D92.522476%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Here is Piccadilly Circus, the major traffic circle with the prominent electric advertising:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly_Circus#/media/File:Piccadilly_Circus_in_London_1962_Brighter.jpg

This is the nearby Admiralty Arch, which connects Trafalgar Square to the Mall which leads to Buckingham Palace. Other scenes of central London include Piccadilly Circus. The building in Trafalgar Square, with the pillars at the entrance, and the dome right above it, is the National Gallery of art:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5066543,-0.1289217,3a,90y,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sg8q-i6ne8WCRgLrniIN4oQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The area of London where the financial district is located is referred to as "The City" or "The Square Mile". Westminster, where the palace and government buildings are located, is technically a separate city but most people just refer to it all as London.

These two places, Guildhall and Mansion House, are where this part of London, known as "The City" is run from. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London#/media/File:Guildhall,_Londres,_Inglaterra,_2014-08-11,_DD_139.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London#/media/File:London_MMB_%C2%BB2K9_Mansion_House.jpg

This is the British Museum:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum#/media/File:British_Museum_from_NE_2_(cropped).JPG

I was at the British Museum, but I really didn't spend enough time there. It is like a trip through the history of all the world. Among many other famous artifacts are the Standard of Ur:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_of_Ur#/media/File:Standard_of_Ur_-_War.jpg

And the Cyrus Cylinder:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder#/media/File:Cyrus_Cylinder_back.jpg

And, of course, the Rosetta Stone:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone#/media/File:Tourist_watching_Rosetta_Stone_at_British_Museum.JPG

Here is another view.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone#/media/File:Rosetta_Stone.JPG

Here is the well-known "Reading Room" of the British Museum. I saw it before it was moved because of lack of space. This is a library within the British Museum that has been used by many great writers and national leaders. In the days before the internet, this was the place to be for access to information.

It is perhaps best-known for being the place where Karl Marx, a German Jew in exile in London, wrote his theories. London has been a popular place for exile and university study, and the Reading Room has also been used by Vladimir Lenin, Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) and, Sun Yat-Sen (who could be considered as the founder of modern China):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum_Reading_Room#/media/File:British_Museum_Reading_Room.jpg

Here is another view.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum_Reading_Room#/media/File:British_Museum_Reading_Room_Panorama_Feb_2006.jpg

Can you believe that Bashar Assad, the embattled president of Syria, once had a peaceful life as a student at the Western Eye Hospital in London? He was called back home, to prepare for future leadership, when his older brother was killed in an accident. He took over leadership when his father, Hafez, died in 2000:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Eye_Hospital#/media/File:Western_Eye_Hospital.jpeg

Nearby is the Tower of London, which is a very old fortress:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London#/media/File:Tower_of_London_(Foto_Hilarmont).jpg

The central building in the Tower of London is the White Tower:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London#/media/File:Tower_of_London_White_Tower.jpg

The other major structure is the Waterloo Block:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London#/media/File:London_Tower_(CherryX).jpg

Many people have been imprisoned in the Tower of London over the centuries. This includes Queen Elizabeth I, the founder of the Anglican Church, while her half-sister Mary was ruling and doing her best to restore Catholicism to England by force. The Crown Jewels are on display in the Tower of London. Viewers cannot stop to look at the jewels, everyone is taken through on a moving sidewalk. This is one of the crowns:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London#/media/File:Imperial_State_Crown_-_Seitenansicht_von_unten.jpg

I am pleased to find out that the dispute over the Kohinoor Diamond has been resolved. As a native of Britain, it would be fine with me to give the diamond back to India, if it is that important. The situation is complicated by the fact that Pakistan and Afghanistan also claim the diamond. Britain is fascinated by diamonds, but doesn't have any of it's own. So, all of the diamonds in the Crown Jewels must have come from somewhere else. But there are enough Indians and Pakistanis in London that everyone can see it if it is on display there.

Here are the three photos of the Tower of London from the Travel Photo Blog Of Europe:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250884.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250885.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250886.jpg

Next to the Tower of London is Tower Bridge. This is built in the form of two towers, and named for the adjacent Tower of London. Tower Bridge is nowhere near as old as the Tower of London, having been built near the end of the Nineteenth Century.

In 1968, a Royal Air Force (RAF) jet pilot was upset that the Ministry of Defense did not intend to have a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the RAF. So, he decided to stage his own celebration by flying low past the Parliament Buildings and through Tower Bridge, below the upper walkway. While it was decided not to proceed with criminal charges against the pilot, the stunt did bring his flying career to an end:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250883.jpg

The following imagery begins at the massive stone Bank of England building. Banks are not something that many people have great affection for, at least not since the Crash of 2008, but the Bank of England building is affectionately nicknamed "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street". 

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5135247,-0.0887269,3a,75y,16.58h,91.69t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sZLxN1Q0ufVShi88nFargiQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DZLxN1Q0ufVShi88nFargiQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D305.87515%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

London has always been about the old and the new together. If you think that the shapes of some of the modern buildings look out of place among London's older buildings, such as the one whose sides curve like a telephone handset, you have a significant amount of company. But some people were saying the same thing about Tower Bridge in 1898.

The domed building is the 17th Century St. Paul's Cathedral. Here are two interior photos, looking in opposite directions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul%27s_Cathedral#/media/File:St_Paul%27s_Cathedral_Nave,_London,_UK_-_Diliff.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul%27s_Cathedral#/media/File:St_Paul%27s_Cathedral_Choir_looking_west,_London,_UK_-_Diliff.jpg

Here is some images of the area, starting inside the cathedral:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5138751,-0.0985528,3a,75y,145.16h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-tHr5u3NG1ig%2FVSnDgaMM5BI%2FAAAAAAAAnR4%2FdfgqWtbDQ84!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-tHr5u3NG1ig%2FVSnDgaMM5BI%2FAAAAAAAAnR4%2FdfgqWtbDQ84%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i3584!8i1792

There is some history in this part of London that does not deserve to be forgotten. 3.5 km to the northeast of the Reading Room in the British Museum, where Karl Marx worked on his theories, much of the history of the Twentieth Century took shape. It is not discussed much nowadays, but Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin and, Leon Trotsky once met in London.

The future course of Communism was decided in, of all places, a church in London. In 1907, the Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democrat Labour Party was held in the Brotherhood Church on Southgate Road. The debate was between the Bolsheviks, who wanted to violently overthrow the Tsar's government, and the Mensheviks, who sought a more peaceful path to power.

The Bolsheviks got their way and, ten years later, the October Revolution would change the world.

The first of the following images looks like an ordinary street intersection in London. But the site of the Tesco Express convenience store is where the historic congress took place. The rest of the images are in the surrounding neighborhood:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5383506,-0.0860908,3a,75y,173.3h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s-B3AfTaSHn3D55fWvVemgg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D-B3AfTaSHn3D55fWvVemgg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D322.36618%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

KENSINGTON AND THE CRYSTAL PALACE

There is a small royal palace in Hyde Park, Kensington Palace. This is where Queen Victoria was born.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Palace#/media/File:Kensington_Palace,_the_South_Front_-_geograph.org.uk_-_287402.jpg

In 1851, what is known simply as the Great Exhibition was held in London's Hyde Park. The main purpose was to display the latest technology and to celebrate industry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Exhibition#/media/File:Crystal_Palace_-_Queen_Victoria_opens_the_Great_Exhibition.jpg

The exhibition was a success and there was considerable money left over afterward. It was decided to use the money to start a nearby complex of buildings, immediately south of Hyde Park, to further knowledge and culture. The effort was organized by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert.

The results of this effort were the Royal Albert Hall, for music and other performances, and the Royal College of Music. The Victoria and Albert Museum (the V & A) is among the few largest art museums in the world. Also created with these funds was Imperial College.

The two important museums that were formed were the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Among the exhibits in the Science Museum are some of the surviving original steam engines, the first jet engine and, one of the Apollo space capsules.

Here are some views of the projects of knowledge and culture, that started with the Great Exhibition of 1851, beginning inside the Royal Albert Hall.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5010678,-0.1773481,3a,75y,29.63h,89.91t,0.08r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shaLrZunOKQIAAAQ1y8i62w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DhaLrZunOKQIAAAQ1y8i62w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D83.8578%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The exhibition hall, the first large structure to be made of glass, was disassembled after the exhibition and reassembled in south London, where it became known as the Crystal Palace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace#/media/File:Crystal_Palace.PNG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace#/media/File:Crystal_Palace_-_interior.jpg

For more than eighty years, the Crystal Palace served as a general exhibition hall. The area of London around it also became known as Crystal Palace. Millions of people saw it and it might be considered as the building that brought the world into modern architecture.

It has a direct influence on any number of buildings across the world, such as the Infomart in Dallas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infomart#/media/File:Dallas_Infomart.jpg

And the Citi Europe Mall, on the French side of the English Channel Tunnel that we saw in the travel photo blog of Europe.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250932.jpg

A few decades after the Great Exhibition of 1851 would come another exhibition, the Exposition Universelle, held in 1889 in Paris. The exhibition was held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The entrance arch to the exhibition was the tallest structure ever built, and became known as the Eiffel Tower.

If we put the massive glass structure of the Crystal Palace together with the tall metal frame structure of the Eiffel Tower, we get modern glass skyscrapers, and this is where they began.

Crystal Palace + Eiffel Tower = Modern Architecture

So great was the influence of the Crystal Palace that Crystal became a girls' name. If you know anyone named Crystal, they are named for the Crystal Palace.

One night in 1936, a fire started in a women's coatroom. Hundreds of firemen from across south London arrived, and prevented the fire from spreading, but couldn't save the building itself.

The site of this iconic building that influenced the world is now a park. The front stairway, and the foundation arches on either side of it, are still there, looking like the ruins of some ancient palace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace#/media/File:Crystal_Palace_General_view_from_Water_Temple.jpg

Every once in a while, someone starts talking about rebuilding the Crystal Palace. But with all of the stadiums around, there is doubt that it is really necessary. In the following scenes, you can see the stairs and foundation arches that can be seen in front of the building in the photo above.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4222418,-0.0736578,3a,75y,352h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-yB8xog0t7HU%2FV5e4MAx3pkI%2FAAAAAAAADYA%2Fi1Y5I8jFanEdsxvs2TnVBGy5rNduPf5pgCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-yB8xog0t7HU%2FV5e4MAx3pkI%2FAAAAAAAADYA%2Fi1Y5I8jFanEdsxvs2TnVBGy5rNduPf5pgCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya71.62958-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

I actually consider the Eaton Centre in Toronto, which is the busiest shopping mall in North America, as the rebuilding of the Crystal Palace. The resemblance between the interiors, although not the exteriors, of the two are unmistakable. The Eaton Centre is supposedly modeled on the Galleria Victor Emmanuele II, in Milan, but Giuseppe Garibaldi once made a speech at the Crystal Palace and I believe the mall in Milan to also have been modeled on it.

Toronto once had it's own replica of the Crystal Palace, where the Horticulture Building stands now, but it was destroyed in 1906.

THE PHENOMENON OF QUEEN VICTORIA

She was barely five feet (152 cm) tall, and became queen as a teenager because all of the other heirs to the throne had died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria#/media/File:Queen_Victoria_by_Bassano.jpg

At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, "Victoria" was a rarely-seen name for a girl. But today, a Google search for "Victoria" brings up more then a billion hits. The name of Victoria is found across the world, for cities, towns, streets, hills, mountains, parks and, islands, and just about everything else. The latter two-thirds of the Nineteenth Century are known as the Victorian Era. The term "Victorian" is also applied to a wide variety of things from furniture and architectural styles to general way of life.

She is also known as the "Grandmother of Europe". The royal houses of Europe are more interrelated then most people realize. At Victoria's death, in 1901, her oldest grandson was present, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Another grandson would become king George V of Britain. A cousin was Czar Nicholas II, of Russia.

Could she imagine that, thirteen years after her death, they would be embroiled in a war with each other like the world had never seen before, the First World War. They all respected her. What if she had lived, maybe the war would not have happened.

Queen Victoria was the longest-serving British sovereign, until that record was broken by her great-great granddaughter, the present Queen Elizabeth II. A great-great grandson of Queen Victoria is the once-popular long-time king of Spain, Juan Carlos I, making him a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth.

OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE AND, IMPERIAL COLLEGES

The oldest English-language university is at Oxford. In 1167, King Henry II forbade English students from going to the Sorbonne (University of Paris) to study. So, they started their own university at Oxford. It was already the site of teaching.

What is known as Oxford University is today many separate colleges. Oxford was originally known for it's classic education. A student used to have to know ancient Greek and Latin to get into Oxford.

The number of important people who have been educated at Oxford is far too long to list here. In the past seventy years only one British prime minister, Gordon Brown, was educated at a university other than Oxford. Dozens of leaders of nations across the world went to Oxford. The Rhodes Scholarship is probably the most prestigious scholarship in the world.

Oxford is the world's university. It may be that, when the leader of one nation visits the leader of another, they reminisce about their student days at Oxford.

This is the well-known dining hall at Christ Church College which, with stained glass windows, looks like a cross between a palace and a cathedral:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford#/media/File:1_christ_church_hall_2012.jpg

A student at Oxford, Roger Bannister, was the first human to run a mile in under four minutes. Until then, it was thought by many to be beyond human capability. When it comes to recreation today, Oxford students are known especially for their rowing competitions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford#/media/File:Eights_2005.JPG

Here is a look around Oxford, starting at All Souls College. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7535948,-1.2529382,3a,75y,258.85h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIFkcwW8yCJBRfTUPBdRIqg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DIFkcwW8yCJBRfTUPBdRIqg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D252.33197%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Not far from Oxford is Blenheim Palace, built in the Eighteenth Century, which we can take a quick detour to have a look at. This is where Winston Churchill was born. When I was there, I recall that they made their own ice cream to sell. We saw Blenheim Palace on the travel photo blog of Europe. Photos can be enlarged just by clicking on them:

http://markmeekphotos.blogspot.com/2006/09/blenheim-palace-near-oxford-england.html 

I have wondered if Blenheim Palace could have contributed to the building of Buckingham Palace, where the queen now lives. Blenheim Palace is not a royal palace, it belonged to nobles. Much of England's history was shaped by competition between royalty and nobility. When Blenheim Palace was built, the royal family was still living in St. James Palace. Blenheim Palace is far more palatial then St, James Palace, and I wonder if the royals of the time could have responded by having Buckingham Palace built.

Here is Blenheim Palace, starting in one of the dining rooms:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.8412861,-1.3608469,3a,75y,75.03h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-gwLFGG4afFQ%2FUzliEzjHVMI%2FAAAAAAAAvtg%2Fh7Aoqgc78sMYvoR0EBtPlHGoUZy9Qh_Iw!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-gwLFGG4afFQ%2FUzliEzjHVMI%2FAAAAAAAAvtg%2Fh7Aoqgc78sMYvoR0EBtPlHGoUZy9Qh_Iw%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i9564!8i4782 

Dissension between university students and local townsfolk, known as "town and gown", is nothing new. This led some students to abandon Oxford and start a new university somewhere else. The new university was to become known as Cambridge. Like Oxford, it actually consists of many separate colleges.

My impression of Cambridge is that it has a strong emphasis on mathematics. The first person that comes to mind as associated with Cambridge is Sir Isaac Newton. It has been a haven for many other scientists such as Paul Dirac, who correctly theorized the existence of antimatter. During the time after the Reformation, Cambridge was known for it's association with Puritanism, rather than with the new Anglican Church.

Like Oxford, there are many high-tech industries and start-ups that have been spun off from the university. The area around Cambridge is sometimes referred to as "Silicon Fen", for the industries associated with computers. Whereas America has one "Silicon Valley", Britain has it's computer industries scattered among several different centers. Brighton, on the south coast, is one, and this Silicon Fen is another, building on Cambridge's history in the early history of computers.

One graduate of Cambridge was named John Harvard. He later crossed the ocean to what was then the colony of Massachusetts, and started the university that today bears his name.

In the architecture of Cambridge University, notice that twin towers on either side of an entrance way are often seen, that are of the same design as those at St. James Palace, in London. This was the red brick palace, built by Henry VIII (The Eighth), where the royal family lived until Buckingham Palace was built:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James%27s_Palace#/media/File:St_Jamess_Palace.jpg 

Here is a look around Cambridge University, starting in the chapel of King's College:

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2047912,0.1166117,3a,75y,268.52h,95.75t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-JpyKRzWDs1A%2FVAGW6oLV6ZI%2FAAAAAAAAARg%2F3qtLfm6U_h8DyTeN8DDZv3rYkdAHttY5g!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-JpyKRzWDs1A%2FVAGW6oLV6ZI%2FAAAAAAAAARg%2F3qtLfm6U_h8DyTeN8DDZv3rYkdAHttY5g%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i10240!8i5120

There was money left over from the Great Exhibition of 1851:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Exhibition#/media/File:Crystal_Palace_-_Queen_Victoria_opens_the_Great_Exhibition.jpg

The money was used to set up a number of educational and cultural institutes just south of Hyde Park, where the exhibition had been held. These institutes include that are now the Royal Albert Hall, the Victoria and Albert Museum (which is actually the largest art museum in the world), The Natural History Museum, The Science Museum and, The Imperial Institute.

The Imperial Institute is now known as Imperial College, in the Kensington area of London close to the related institutes. There are other Imperial College campuses around London. This is a very highly rated university, which educates a large number of students. It is where penicillin was discovered, which may be the most important development ever made in medicine.

Imperial College is not all housed in Nineteenth Century buildings. There is the artistic "Blue Cube" building which is in keeping with London's tradition of putting the old and new right next to one another. Here is a look around Imperial College and the other related institutes, from the days after the Great Exhibition of 1851. Remember that the cylindrical building is the Royal Albert Hall:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4987858,-0.1757108,3a,75y,78.82h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-Lc-uvtVnSpI%2FUlWXFnyIb4I%2FAAAAAAABFCE%2Fq0EoXIFj9ZYM-BX7KAgQKCcio9CxmSxtA!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-Lc-uvtVnSpI%2FUlWXFnyIb4I%2FAAAAAAABFCE%2Fq0EoXIFj9ZYM-BX7KAgQKCcio9CxmSxtA%2Fw240-h100-n-k-no%2F!7i4128!8i1713 

CANARY WHARF

Canary Wharf is one of the two financial centers in London, the other being the traditional finance area, known simply as "The City". Well over 100,000 people work in Canary Wharf. It is to the east of the rest of London.

The idea of this development, as a "new downtown" in London, came about in the 1980s, by way of a Toronto company called Olympia and York. In 1975, this company had constructed the tallest building in Toronto, aside from the CN Tower. The company also built many of the buildings on Manhattan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Canadian_Place#/media/File:First_Canadian_Place_01.jpg

The tallest building in the Canary Wharf development, with the pyramid roof, is called One Canada Square. The red lights are aircraft warning lights, because London City Airport is not far away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Wharf#/media/File:Canary_Wharf_Skyline_2,_London_UK_-_Oct_2012.jpg

Unfortunately, demand for property had decreased and the project brought about the bankruptcy of the company. Transportation to Canary Wharf was also an issue. It took time to complete the extension of the Jubilee Line, of the "Underground" or subway, that serves Canary Wharf today. Heathrow, Britain's major airport, was far away, on the other side of London, from Canary Wharf.

Before the Jubilee Line Extension to it was complete, it was accessible from central London by the Docklands Light Railway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docklands_Light_Railway#/media/File:DLR_106.jpg

Today, Canary Wharf is the financial center that it was intended to be and is easily accessible through Canary Wharf Station, on the Jubilee Line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Wharf_tube_station#/media/File:Canary_Wharf_Tube_Station_-_July_2009.jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Wharf_tube_station#/media/File:Canary_Wharf_concourse_and_concourse_roof.jpg

I would especially like Toronto readers to see how Canary Wharf is doing today. The waterways are because the development is on a former dock area, which is where the name comes from.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5054188,-0.0225474,3a,75y,90.7h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-RRH_GMy-xxw%2FVZe3RqEYpjI%2FAAAAAAAACho%2FWMbIc-CFlBYsXGMKiLFxe7mF1G7w_6h-wCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-RRH_GMy-xxw%2FVZe3RqEYpjI%2FAAAAAAAACho%2FWMbIc-CFlBYsXGMKiLFxe7mF1G7w_6h-wCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya332.12842-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i10240!8i5120

This is inside the O2 complex, just across the river from Canary Wharf, and some more views of Canary Wharf from the east.

To the south of the O2 complex and Canary Wharf is Greenwich Park. It is from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park that the Prime Meridian is measured. This means that Canary Wharf is in the Western Hemisphere but the nearby O2 complex, with the white shell roof, is in the Eastern Hemisphere. The park where the 2012 Olympics were held is just north of here, and is also just at the edge of the Western Hemisphere.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5030431,0.0042377,3a,75y,71.94h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-kU56ZkLwcHs%2FV5ZdKLeiFtI%2FAAAAAAABZMc%2FvPm1XII6z40svy6lzAH3qoaddnrxLnV6gCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-kU56ZkLwcHs%2FV5ZdKLeiFtI%2FAAAAAAABZMc%2FvPm1XII6z40svy6lzAH3qoaddnrxLnV6gCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-3.1991224-ya220.12785-ro5.6814756-fo100%2F!7i5376!8i2688

The Rule Of Eight

The "Rule Of Eight" links electrons to planets and continents. You may be wondering what electrons, planets and, continents have in common. I have not added anything to it in a while but remember the theory, "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" January 2016.

That theory is about how the universe reuses information. There is only a limited amount of information in the universe so large-scale structures must be based on the same information as the more basic, lower-scale structures. This is simply because there is no information from anywhere else for the large-scale structures.

One of the most obvious examples of this reuse of information that I use is the resemblance between the orbits of astronomical bodies and the orbitals of the electrons in the atoms of which these astronomical bodies are composed. There is no new information from anywhere when astronomical bodies, like planets and stars, form from atoms, so the same information that is in the structures of the atoms must be reused.

The orbits of moons around planets, and of planets around stars, and of stars around the center of the galaxy, very much resembles the orbitals of electrons in atoms. It also applies to the mutual orbits of stars in multiple star systems. Planets and stars also tend to rotate, just as electrons have spin.

"The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" also works in other ways. There are two "Rules Of Common Atoms", one for the universe and one for our biology. Color does not really exist, it is just how our eyes and brains interpret different wavelengths of visible light. Could it be a coincidence that the number of atoms that are really common in our biology, about six, is the same as the number of separate colors that we see? 

Could it also be a coincidence that the number of really common atoms in the universe is the same as the number of different types of galaxies? The information for the number of colors that we see and the number of types of galaxies had to come from somewhere.

We saw another way that "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" works in the compound posting on this blog, "The Configuration Of The Solar System Made Really Simple" .

The present Solar System, the sun and planets, formed from the debris of a previous large star that exploded in a supernova. The debris fell back together by gravity. The ordinary fusion process in stars only goes as far as iron. This is why iron is so common in the inner Solar System, it is the most common element on earth by mass. What I found so interesting is that the distances of the planets from the sun can be traced to the factors that bring about the 56 nucleons in an iron atom. This is an ideal example of the reuse of information.

I actually consider "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" as no longer a separate theory. It is closely related to another theory on this blog, "The Lowest Information Point" and, as we saw in that theory, "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" has now been incorporated into it.

With that background, let's move on to another example to add to "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe".

Atoms can have multiple shells of electron orbitals. In ordinary atoms, that are not ions, the number of negatively-charged electrons in the orbitals matches the number of positively-charged protons in the nucleus, so that the atom has a net charge of zero.

But the maximum number of electrons that any atom can have in it's outermost shell is eight. It is this outermost electron shell that governs the chemical behavior of atoms. As a general rule, when atoms combine together to form molecules, the "Octet Rule" is followed that tries to get each atom in the molecule surrounded by eight electrons.

The arrangement of the Periodic Table of the Elements is based on the chemical behavior of an atom being governed by the number of electrons in it's outermost shell. That is why there are eight columns in the table. Elements in the same column have similar chemical behavior because they have the same number of electrons in their outermost shells.

That maximum of eight is information and, since everything is composed of atoms, we should, if my theory of "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" is correct, expect to see this number eight reflected in the large-scale universe somehow, since everything is composed of atoms.

Since the orbits of the planets bear so much resemblance to the orbitals of electrons in atoms, how much of a coincidence can it be that there are eight planets?

In ways that we may not yet understand, the Solar System "conspired" to prevent the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter from coalescing, by gravity, into a planet. This made sure that there would only be eight planets, matching the maximum number of outermost electrons in the atoms of which those planets are composed.

By the same token the earth's moon and Charon, the moon of Pluto, could possibly have been planets themselves but the "Rule Of Eight" went into effect, causing our moon and Charon to join planets so that there would only be eight planets.

This means that, with regard to other stars that we can see have solar systems, the "Rule Of Eight" means that there will always be a bias towards having eight planets in the solar system. This does not absolutely mean that there will always be eight planets, but it is the most likely number.

What about the number of continents on earth? As the earth rotates it's continents can be said to move around the center of the earth much like the electrons in orbitals moving around the nucleus of the atom. 

It has recently been established that the vast shallow area around New Zealand is actually a continent, although it is mostly underwater. This means that there are eight continents. It looks like the "Rule Of Eight" has applied again.

Can you see how this concept of "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe", which must be taking place because there is no information from anywhere else to form the large-scale structures, enables us to "see ahead" how the universe must operate, even to things that we haven't "discovered" yet?

I find this to be a very useful concept.