Thursday, October 22, 2026

Introduction To This Blog System

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Image used by permission

Posting is usually done once a week, on Thursday.

Postings may be later combined into a compound posting on this blog. Many of the postings concern my observations in various branches of science, but there are also many on technology, religion, economics and, general world issues.

I would really like to thank everyone who reads any of these blogs for your interest.
 
SCIENCE WRITING
 
Most of the postings on this blog are visits to various places around the world, and articles about such topics as history and religion. But much of the writing is about science. I do not write about what is already known but only if I can write something new, or at least a new way of looking at things.
 
If you would like a quick background in the science and mathematics that everyone should really know in the 21st Century, the posting "Scientific Literacy" provides this in about a hundred paragraphs. Similarly, "The Way Things Work" provides a quick background in everyday technology.
 
I am a Christian and I want to show that belief in God is not unscientific at all. I was interested in science long before I was interested in religion, and have never had any trouble believing that God created everything.
 
There are six major scientific theories, each arranged in the form of a textbook. The first five of the following six are on this blog.
 
"The Theory Of Stationary Space" is my cosmological theory of how so much revolves around time being explained by us being in four-dimensional space, with the dimension that we cannot access being perceived as time. This is my version of string theory, with matter actually being strings in four dimensions rather than particles in three dimensions. Everything is ultimately based on negative and positive electric charges, with energy being able to overcome the laws of attraction and repulsion of electric charges. No one has ever explained exactly what time is, and a myriad of explanations of other things fall right into place around it.
 
"The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" is about how so much can be explained by seeing how there is a limited amount of information, and it must be the same information that constructs the highest levels as the lowest levels. A ready example is how the orbits of planets around the sun is based on the orbitals of electrons around the nucleus, in the atoms of which the sun and planets are composed. This concept is extremely useful because, understanding this, we can study things that we cannot directly see by analyzing things that we can see because all must be built on the same information.
 
"The Theory Of Complexity" is about what information actually is, how energy and information is really the same thing, and how we see the universe as we do because of our perspective of being at a higher level of information than our inanimate surroundings.
 
"The Lowest Information Point" is about how, since information and energy is really the same thing and the universe always seeks the lowest energy state, it also always seeks the "Lowest Information Point". So much is explained by how the universe prefers equalities to inequalities and related ratios where the numerator of one ratio is also the denominator of the other. This explains so much from why dust particles are as big as they to why the planets and stars are the scale that they are.

"The Theory Of Infinite Dimensions" is the most recent scientific theory. It is the second cosmological theory, after"The Theory Of Stationary Space". We see the universe as an infinity of distance in three spatial dimensions and light as always moving in straight lines. But this is another example of how we see the universe as we do not only because of what it is but also because of what we are. It is more logical that the universe has an infinite number of dimensions. We can see in all of the dimensions because light actually can turn corners but it requires energy. We can only see it as three dimensions because of our limited dimensional order. Light consists of two-dimensional waves and we perceive space as being three-dimensional. This means that we can see light as coming from different directions but can only perceive it as moving in a straight line.
 
"The Story Of Planet Earth", on the geology blog, is about how virtually every major feature of the earth's surface, both on land and seafloor, can be explained by lines of magma emergence from below that were affected by the landing of three Continental Asteroids. Many people believe that land originated from a past "super-continent", but there is no explanation of where it came from.
 
There are a few of what we could call "minor" theories, where there is not as much written as with the major theories. On this blog, there is "How Biology And Human Life Fits Into Cosmology". On the meteorology and biology blog, there is my theory of the nature of water, "Water Made Really Simple".
 
There are compound postings about science which are groupings of writing about a certain topic.
 
Scientific compound postings include, "Computer Science", "Atomic Science", "Measurement", "A Celebration Of The Inverse Square Law", "Our Solar System", "Mind-Bending Cosmology", "The Configuration Of The Solar System Made Really Simple", "In Appreciation Of Electrons", "The Science Of Human Society " and "Orbital And Escape Velocities And Impacts from Space".
 
Compound postings about history and the world include "The House Of Holy Wisdom, Where The Modern World Began", "Niagara Stories", "Economics", "How History Repeats Itself", "The Meaning Of Freedom", "The Western Hemisphere", "Our Language" and, "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris".
 
There are two compound postings about prophecies and the Bible. There is "The Aztec Prophecy" than, for prophecies that are directly made in the Bible there is "New Insight Into Bible Prophecy".
 
"Investigations" is the compound posting that is a collection of any posting about an investigation.
 
The rest of the postings are individual postings. For more detailed information about this blog, see the posting "Thanks To Readers". For general topics of conversation, see "Thoughts And Observations", on the world and economics blog.  

Other Blogs And Books

                                                                                                                                                                          

Lights at night 

Here is a quick look at my other blogs before you start this one.

On this blog, you can see a list of all postings by clicking on the year or month to the right. But on the topical blogs, that is not the case. If you click on a year or month on those blogs, it will display the postings themselves, but the list on the right will still only show those postings that were added most recently.

To access a list of all postings on those blogs, it is necessary to click on the arrow in front of the year or month in question.

http://www.markmeekeconomics.blogspot.com/ is about economics, history and, general human issues.

http://www.markmeekprogress.blogspot.com/ concerns progress in technology and ideas.

http://www.markmeekearth.blogspot.com/ is my geology and global natural history blog for topics other than glaciers. My natural history blogs concerning the impact of glaciers is http://www.markmeekworld.blogspot.com/ .

http://www.markmeekniagara.blogspot.com/ is about new discoveries concerning natural history in the general area of Niagara Falls.

http://www.markmeeklife.blogspot.com/ is my observations concerning meteorology and biology.

http://www.markmeekphysics.blogspot.com/ is my blog about physics and astronomy.

http://www.markmeekcosmology.blogspot.com/ is my version of string theory that solves many unsolved mysteries about the underlying structure and beginning of the universe.

http://www.markmeekpatterns.blogspot.com/ details my work with the fundamental patterns and complexity that underlies everything in existence.

 http://www.markmeekreligion.blogspot.com/ is my religion blog.

 http://www.markmeekcreation.blogspot.com/ is proof that there must be a god.

http://www.markmeekphotos.blogspot.com/ is my travel photos of Europe.

On my photo blogs, Blogspot will not hold all of the photos in each blog in a straight line. To see all of the photos, you must click on the bottom posting listed on the right at the top of the blog after seeing all that there are in the initial showing. The last posting in the North America blog should be "Tijuana, Mexico" and the last posting in the Europe blog should be "Notre Dame Cathedral Door And Arc De Triomphe, Paris". Each photo in the photo blogs can be clicked on to enlarge it to full screen.

My autobiography is http://www.mark-meek.blogspot.com/

My books can be seen at http://www.bn.com/ http://www.amazon.com/ or, http://www.iuniverse.com/ just do an author search for "Mark Meek".   

Bangladesh

When I was growing up we rarely had dinner around a table. We would watch the news while having dinner. Now I am glad of that because I watched so much that I can write about here. I watched the beginning of Bangladesh.

Two of the earliest words that I remember learning were "bungalow" and "veranda". A bungalow is a one-story house with a sloping roof, and often with a veranda. A veranda is a kind of porch under the roof of the house. A veranda usually extends the entire side of the house, and often around a corner.

This was in England. The house where I was born was called "Sunnybank Bungalow". Sometimes we would go outside on the veranda. I never heard the word "porch" until I was in North America.

"Bungalow" and "Veranda" are both Bengali words that have been adopted into English.

Bangladesh is a densely populated primarily Moslem country bordering the eastern part of India. It was Hindu and Buddhist before becoming Moslem. For nearly 24 years Bangladesh was united with Pakistan, and was known as East Pakistan, before becoming independent in 1971.

Moslem countries can be divided into two broad spheres, Eastern and Western. Western Moslems are north Africa and the Middle East to Pakistan. Eastern Moslems are Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the southernmost island of the Philippines.

Possibly the best-known Moslem building is the Taj Mahal. It is in India, which is not a predominantly Moslem country although it has a large Moslem minority. We saw in the posting on this blog, "My View Of The Taj Mahal", that I see it as a "linchpin" joining the Eastern and Western Moslems.

But what is so interesting about Bangladesh is that it is a heavy concentration of Moslems that is so far away from any comparable concentration of Moslems.

To understand how this came to be we could think of Bangladesh as the intersection of three major highways. The first is the Bay of Bengal, the way to approach eastern India by sea. The second is the great rivers of India, such as the Ganges, which passes through Bangladesh on the way to the sea. The third is the Grand Trunk Road, one of the great roads of history that has been in use since ancient times. The Grand Trunk Road starts in Bangladesh, proceeds across northern India and what is now Pakistan, and leads to Afghanistan.

Many of the people who thus passed through what is now Bangladesh were Moslems. They spread the Islamic religion. The area was ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, until the Bengal Sultanate gained independence.

The area was then ruled by the Mughals, who moved eastward along the Grand Trunk Road. It was the Mughals who set up the new capital at Dhaka. What is now Bangladesh was very prosperous when ruled by the Mughals.

The All-India Moslem League was formed in Dhaka. This is what would lead to Pakistan becoming a separate Moslem country when India gained independence in 1947. Pakistan was to be in two halves, East and West, consisting of two Moslem-majority areas on opposite sides of India.

Four states in northwestern India, including half of Punjab which was to be divided, would form West Pakistan. In the east of India, Bengal State was to be split into East and West Bengal. West Bengal would remain part of India. The heavily Moslem East Bengal would become East Pakistan. The Indian city of Kolkata (Calcutta), in West Bengal, is about 50 km, or 30 miles, from the border of Bangladesh.

But Pakistan, as two halves separated by 1600 km, or 1,000 miles, of Indian territory struggled to hold together. The capital city was in West Pakistan. Urdu was declared the national language but it was foreign to the Bengalis of East Pakistan. It took demonstrations to get Bengali proclaimed as a national language as well. Almost every leader of the country was from West Pakistan.

I remember from childhood the devastating 1970 cyclone in East Pakistan. The eastern half of the country was dismayed at the response by the government in West Pakistan. There was also a national election. East Pakistanis claimed that their Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won, but was prevented from taking office by the authorities in West Pakistan.

I can remember the news that the world had a new nation. East Pakistan declared independence as the new nation of Bangladesh. A destructive war would follow. India would get involved, on the side of the new Bangladesh, claiming that it had to stabilize the situation due to the flow of refugees into India.

The good news is that Bangladesh has close relations with Pakistan today. In many local businesses here we see the flag of Bangladesh. 

The red circle is set slightly to the left side. This is because the right side of the flag, away from the flagpole, moves more when the flag is flying in the wind. This makes the circle appear centered. This is very clever and I don't think any other national flag takes account of this.


Politics in Bangladesh, for most of it's history, revolved around two women, familiar to the world as Hasina and Zia.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ended up being the founding father of Bangladesh. He was killed in a coup in August 1975. His daughter, Hasina, accused Ziaur Rahman (no relation) of being behind the coup. Ziaur Rahman led Bangladesh until his own assassination in 1981. The widow of Ziaur Rahman was Khaleda Zia, who led the country from 1991-96 and 2001-06. Sheikh Hasina led the country until being overthrown in 2024. Her party is the Awami League which championed self-determination for the Bengalis of the former East Pakistan.

If you are wondering whether there was a rivalry between Hasina and Zia, the answer is most definitely "yes". Zia's son is now prime minister and Hasina is in exile in India.

Many Bangladeshis live in the west. Brick Lane, in the "Banglatown" neighborhood of east London, is famous for it's Bangladeshi restaurants. Image from Google Street View.


Dhaka today is one of the few largest cities in the world. It was the Mughals that made it into an important city and it was originally named for the Mughal emperor Jahangir. It is the capital city of Bangladesh.

Lalbagh Fort was built by the Mughals at Dhaka. The first two images are from Google Street View.



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 the previews of successive scenes, if you so wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@23.7188457,90.3883274,2a,75y,85.51h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEMZ7ufXbva4PtRwuKEfeCQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DEMZ7ufXbva4PtRwuKEfeCQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D85.09854%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is the Sixty Dome Mosque, built during the days of the Bengal Sultanate. It also has a surrounding garden. The first image is from Google Street View.




Here is Dhaka further from the city center. You have probably worn a lot of clothes that was made in Bangladesh. Both my spring-autumn jacket and my winter coat were made in Bangladesh.



https://www.google.com/maps/@23.7522263,90.421119,3a,75y,80h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNE6aHCLFWPiUXvq22nIgvCbWWfdiC_UZyhxRY1!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNE6aHCLFWPiUXvq22nIgvCbWWfdiC_UZyhxRY1%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-12.705156-ya315.79114-ro-1.8419946-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

Chittagram, or Chittagong, is the second city of Bangladesh. It is a seaport and this is an area of the city near the coast. This has been the gateway to eastern India by sea since ancient times. There were settlements of European merchants.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chattogram,+Bangladesh/@22.3690742,91.8338281,11a,75y,182.45h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEoBZXrUem6oTttno9_9Cog!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DEoBZXrUem6oTttno9_9Cog%26yaw%3D182.44647!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x30acd8a64095dfd3:0x5015cc5bcb6905d9!8m2!3d22.3752075!4d91.8348606!16zL20vMDIxajM4?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Here is the business district and port of Chittagram. Upon the Partition of 1947, the major ports were left in India. Chittagram developed as the port of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, while Karachi developed as the port of West Pakistan.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.3278481,91.8150944,3a,75y,200h,110t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN-OxfcynpEZrrCbtqVM5e5l3yXhxGJNG3FoMeR!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN-OxfcynpEZrrCbtqVM5e5l3yXhxGJNG3FoMeR%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya200-ro0-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

Cox's Bazar is where the Grand Trunk Road, which has been so important to the subcontinent since ancient times, actually begins.

https://www.google.com/maps/@21.425913,91.978618,3a,75y,240h,110t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMhbmQJ8tXtUTd7zCKmIJ5AkdUnidN1Tcd6Z_q4!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMhbmQJ8tXtUTd7zCKmIJ5AkdUnidN1Tcd6Z_q4%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya263.5284-ro-0-fo100!7i13312!8i6656

This is a rural area in northern Bangladesh near Sherpur. The first two images, from Google Street View, shows rice cultivation.



https://www.google.com/maps/@24.6591732,89.4171905,3a,75y,180h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN_cVbB1i9GOoxjvPeByjKWPoAWKtDmDsayV4Qy!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN_cVbB1i9GOoxjvPeByjKWPoAWKtDmDsayV4Qy%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya273-ro-0-fo100!7i6144!8i3072

Here is a rural area south of Dhaka.

https://www.google.com/maps/@23.0349323,89.8875666,3a,75y,216.37h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smkMlMGS593eFw3MMAtdpcg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DmkMlMGS593eFw3MMAtdpcg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D216.37386%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Another rural area in the south of the country near the coast.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.6747093,89.7412491,3a,75y,320h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMcQxLHYLQGRfvmy7xjBFBJ7PaiLcJbJiuOcOM7!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMcQxLHYLQGRfvmy7xjBFBJ7PaiLcJbJiuOcOM7%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya38.000004-ro-0-fo100!7i7680!8i3840

Indira Gandhi And Hasina

There are parallels between Indira Gandhi and Hasina. Indira Gandhi was the long-time Prime Minister of India who helped Hasina's father gain independence for Bangladesh. Hasina would be a long-time Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Indira Gandhi was the daughter of the first prime minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who became prime minister herself. Hasina was the daughter of the first prime minister of independent Bangladesh, Mujibur Rahman, who became prime minister herself.

Both were the central figure of political parties that became dynasties. Indira Gandhi was not related to Mahatma Gandhi, the spiritual leader of Indian independence. She was Nehru's daughter and Nehru was Mahatma Gandhi's prime minister. But her husband was named Gandhi and the name certainly didn't hurt her political career.

Hasina's father led Bangladesh to independence in 1971. He was assassinated, in 1975, in a coup allegedly led by another Rahman, Ziaur, who was unrelated. Indira Gandhi would also eventually be assassinated, just as Mahatma Gandhi had been. Ziaur Rahman would also be assassinated, in 1981.

So two unrelated leaders with the same name would be assassinated in both countries. In India the name would be Gandhi and in Bangladesh the name would be Rahman. The second Gandhi would be Indira and the daughter of the first Rahman would be Hasina.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated and Hasina was condemned to death while in exile.

The widow of the second Rahman would also play an important role in Bangladeshi politics. Her name is Zia and she would be the perpetual opponent of Hasina. Her son is now the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. His name is Rahman and Indira Gandhi's son, Rajiv, followed her as prime minister after she was assassinated.

So India has been ruled by three Gandhis and Bangladesh has been ruled by three Rahmans.

Bangladesh's Version Of The French Revolution

The 2024 overthrow of Hasina was Bangladesh's version of the French Revolution.

The French Revolution of 1789 was like the Big Bang of the modern political era. There have been two major reenactments of the French Revolution, and many minor ones. In the French Revolution the king and queen, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, were overthrown and guillotined. The chaos of the revolution eventually ended in the rule of Napoleon, although he had nothing to do with initiating the revolution or executing the king and queen. The revolutionaries were obsessed with the number ten, and the measurement system that they developed is what we refer to today as the Metric System. 

The first major reenactment of the French Revolution was the October Revolution of 1917. Tsar Nicholas was overthrown and the family ultimately executed. Every reenactment of the revolution has it's own version of the Storming of the Bastille, which was the signature event of the French Revolution. In 1917 it was the Storming of the Winter Palace. The conquests of Napoleon had earlier spread the ideals of the revolution, the modern secular republic. While his invasion of Russia was ultimately unsuccessful could Napoleon have imagined that, just over a century later, the tsars would be overthrown by a reenactment of the revolution that had brought him to power?

The second major reenactment of the French Revolution was the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The revolutionaries, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, were in exile in France not far from Versailles, which was the home of the French monarchy that was overthrown. Khomeini returned home, after the royal family had fled into exile, on an Air France jet which has the revolutionary tricolor painted on it. The Iranian version of the Storming of the Bastille was the Storming of the U.S. Embassy, which resulted in the Hostage Crisis. The reenactments are not exactly the same as the original French Revolution, each rearranges the pieces in it's own way. The Iranian Revolution, in contrast to the French and October Revolutions, was a move back toward religion. The Eiffel Tower was a monument of the centennial of the French Revolution but the Iranian version of the tower, the Azadi Tower, was a monument of the 2500 year anniversary of the monarchy that would be overthrown by the reenactment of the French Revolution. 

Bangladesh had another reenactment of the French Revolution. It was the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina. The founder of Bangladesh is considered to be Mujibar Rahman. Bangladesh used to be half of Pakistan, and called East Pakistan. But the capital city, and most of the presidents since independence in 1947, had been from West Pakistan. Rahman supposedly won a presidential election but was not allowed to take office. This resulted in East Pakistan declaring independence as Bangladesh, with Rahman as it's first president. 

Sheikh Hasina was his daughter. The family was assassinated in 1975 but Sheikh Hasina and her sister survived because they were abroad. The elements of the French Revolution that were seen are the Storming of the Bastille being replaced by the storming, by a crowd of people, the residence of Sheikh Hasina. The anti-monarchical destructiveness of the French Revolution were seen in attempts to destroy statues of her father. Just as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to flee in a carriage, Sheikh Hasina fled in a helicopter. 

Does anyone remember another reenactment of the French Revolution, the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania in 1989? He and his wife also reenacted the attempt to flee, by helicopter, but, unlike Hasina, their attempt was unsuccessful. The revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989 were on the bicentennial year of the French Revolution, and Romania has it's own version of Napoleon's Arc De Triomphe, so everything was ready for a reenactment of the French Revolution.

Uprising In France

There is a massive uprising in France that is spreading to other countries. Has anyone noticed something interesting with regard to the timeframes?

France actually had two revolutions. There was the French Revolution of 1789 that I often write about here and consider as the "Big Bang" of the modern political era. This set the global pace for the overthrow of monarchy in favor of republics. But it ultimately resulted in the emergence of Napoleon as the prototype of the modern dictator.

After the time of Napoleon the monarchy was restored but in a limited form, this time as a constitutional monarchy. The second revolution was the series of revolutions that swept Europe in 1848. This is what ended the monarchy for good, although these revolutions of 1848 were more about social conditions.

The present uprising in France is a repetition of 1848, rather than 1789. It is seeking improved social conditions, particularly in education, rather than the overthrow of the government. 

1848 was also repeated in 1968. This was also a year of great uprising. Student protests and strikes paralyzed France. The U.S. was convulsed with race riots, protests against the Vietnam War and the violence at the Democratic National Convention.

We know that anniversaries are important in the repetition of revolutions. Not date anniversaries, because revolutions tend to be extended events, but year anniversaries. 

The first anniversary that is obvious is that the fall of Communist governments in Eastern Europe in 1989, in one country after another, happened on the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. The Storming of the Bastille was the signature event of the French Revolution. The corresponding signature event of 1989 was the opening of the Berlin Wall and the "storming" of people through it.

1968 would have been on the 100th anniversary of 1848, except that there was a twenty year delay, which I believe was caused by the interruption of the world wars. But this twenty year delay is reflected in the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring, beginning in 2009, was very much a reenactment of Eastern Europe in 1989, but it had been delayed by twenty years. 

Now what do you notice about the present uprising in France? Considering that these are drawn-out events, there is as much time from the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1848 as there is from 1968 to the present uprising in 2026.

Symbolism In Buffalo

We saw how subtle but powerful symbolism can be in "The Power Of Symbolism", March 2024. I wonder if symbolism has helped to support Buffalo's ever-growing Bangladeshi community.

Bangladeshis have been moving upstate from New York City because it is less expensive. But why is it so focused on Buffalo so that cities like Rochester and Syracuse don't have comparable Bangladeshi communities? 

I have wondered if subtle symbolism is at work, even if no one is consciously aware of it. The sports teams at Buffalo State are called the Bengals and the mascot is a Bengal tiger.


The name of Bangladesh means "Bengal Nation" and the majority language is Bengali.

This is a powerful force that we do not have to be consciously aware of. It doesn't matter that few Bangladeshis attend Buffalo State and the Bangladeshi community is centered on the other side of the city.

Separatism In Canada

What could have brought about this apparently nonsensical separatist movement in Alberta? It is difficult to imagine Alberta as a separate country. It would be landlocked and dependent on Canada to export oil. 

Don't forget about symbolism. America's flag has a star for each of the fifty states. The thirteen stripes represent the thirteen original states. This symbolism affects Canada.

Canada has thirteen provinces and territories but the Maple Leaf has only eleven points. Since none of the three territories is a viable country, this makes it seem that two of the provinces should leave. 

There used to be only one separatist movement, that of Quebec. But that was when there were twelve provinces and territories. The creation of Nunavut eventually brought about a second separatist movement, that of Alberta. The separatist party has regained power in Quebec, and it's separatist intentions were in the news, although it doesn't seem that many people are interested in separation.

Apocalyptic Developments

This is in regard to the parallel postings "The End Of The World As We Know It" and "Inducing The Apocalypse", both June 2026.

The war involving the Houthis is a third theater of war that is working out the technology and tactics in the perilous new world of drones. It's not that drones are particularly destructive, relative to other weapons of war, it's that drones are so inexpensive and easy to make and use. 

We don't even want to think about what an easy target tall buildings are for drones. This is the Kingdom Tower, in Riyadh. Image from Google Street View.


Drones probably couldn't bring down a skyscraper. But they can make it uninhabitable and unusable. 

Any mass gathering of people is vulnerable to drones. This includes markets, as we saw this week in Sudan. 

The flight technology of drones is simple. A drone is basically a model aircraft. The Twenty-First Century technology in drones is the communication. Cameras on drones, combined with communication or AI, enable the guiding of the drone directly to a target.

These three wars are also working out new technology and tactics for missiles. These missiles are more expensive than drones, and require more skill to use, but are still widely available. 

The path of a missile can be plotted so that it's likely target can be alerted and efforts made to shoot it down. But that is presuming that the missile is moving in a straight line. The latest development is varying the trajectory of the missile, such as having it's flight path be an S-curve instead of a straight line. Since the trajectory of the missile is uncertain, it is much more difficult to discern it's target and shoot it down.


The Symbol Of The Baby Boomers

Here is something that we don't see anymore. It is the cents sign, for prices below a dollar. When was the last time you saw this?

This will remind Baby Boomers, those born 1946-64, of their youth and childhood. Once upon a time there were a lot of things that cost less than a dollar. 

Let's bring back this symbol as representing the Baby Boomers. It can also be used as a protest against inflation.

Historical Sidelines

I find that history books tend to give the main sweep of events but often neglect the numerous "side stories" that do not fit into the main sweep. Today, let's have a look at some of these historical sidelines that should not be forgotten. Some of this I have written about previously.


The modern sciences of cosmology and cosmogony, the underlying structure and origin of the universe, revolve around the so-called "Big Bang". This is the cataclysmic explosion of matter and energy that virtually all scientists in these fields accept as marking the beginning of the universe. It is easy to forget that the Big Bang Theory did not originate in scientific circles at all but is a Christian idea. A Belgian priest named Georges Lemaitre suggested that the universe must have begun with such a cataclysm based on what is stated in the Bible about God's creation of the universe and it proved to be correct. 

In celebrating the recent anniversary of the first landing of men on the moon, there is one really impressive feat that seems to get left out. It happened not on the first moon landing, Apollo 11, but on the next one, Apollo 12, in November 1969. In 1967, an unmanned spacecraft, Surveyor, landed on the moon at provide photo images of the surface. In an outstanding feat of navigation, Apollo 12 landed near Surveyor so that the astronauts could remove it's camera and bring it back to earth. The total surface area of the moon is about four times the size of countries like the U.S. or Canada or, China so let's not forget this. 

Cotton is not native to North America and coffee is not native to South America. All of the cotton ever grown in North America originated in some seeds brought from London and all of the coffee grown in South America is from a plant taken there from the Netherlands. 

An incredible but overlooked fact is that the vast majority of the stars in the sky that can be seen with the naked eye have Arabic names. This does not include the brightest stars such as Antares, Arcturus, Vega, Sirius, etc. because these stars were named in ancient times. It also does not include the stars that can only be seen with a telescope. The reason is that after the end of the Roman Empire but before the renaissance, it was the Middle East that made most of the advances in science. "Algebra" is also derived from an Arabic word. 

We tend to forget how our alphabet was derived from earlier hieroglyphics. Have you ever noticed how an "A" resembles the head and horns of a bull upside-down? An "H" resembles a door or a two-story house. "J" looks like a fishing hook. "M" or "W" seems to be derived from the waves on water. "R" looks like a person's profile. "S" might be from a bow and "V" an inverted symbol for a hill or mountain. "T" resembles a pillar or column holding up a roof. 

The west African nation of Liberia was founded by a group of former slaves in the U.S. that had been given their freedom and sailed back to Africa many generations after their ancestors had been taken as slaves. They named their new capital city "Monrovia" after the U.S. president that gave them freedom. I am surprised that this amazing story does not get more attention. 

Sweden was once an imperial power and a long-forgotten fact is that the U.S. state of Delaware had it's beginnings as a Swedish colony. 

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a short-lived union between Egypt and Syria. The two became one nation known as the United Arab Republic, or the U.A.R. Egypt is still sometimes referred to by that name. There were high hopes that the new united nation would be the focal point of a vast Pan-Arab nation. But the Iraqi King Qassim favored an alliance with the U.S.S.R. Also, many Syrians were concerned that theirs, the smaller of the two nations would be dominated by Egypt and there were wealthy Syrians that felt threatened by Egyptian leader, Gamel Nasser's socialist ideas. A faction of the Syrian Army rose up and declared independence from the U.A.R. 

An unforgettable episode is the radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" in 1938. It was a story about an invasion of earth by Martians. The trouble is that millions of people in eastern New York State and New Jersey took it seriously and thought it was an actual live news broadcast of such an invasion in progress. In 1968 the scenario was repeated in Buffalo, with a science fiction radio broadcast about Martians landing on Grand Island. Some people believed that it was for real, reportedly including the Canadian military, which came to the border to try and stop any Martians from entering Canada.

In the Niagara Falls area, Grand Island was once, before the reestablishment of Israel, planned as the Jewish homeland of "Ararat" and nearby Navy Island was proposed as the site of the United Nations Headquarters. Neither was to be. 

A Lebanese tradition is immigration to Latin America. Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu is of Lebanese descent and was for a long time the richest man in the world. This is an immigration trend of which little is written. The historical root of it is the extensive travels and colonization of the Phoenicians.

In the Eighteenth Century, Russia sought immigrants from Europe to establish farms on it's vast landscape. Most European countries had colonies to which people could move if they wished. But from the small German-speaking duchies and principalities across central Europe, which were not yet a united nation, hundreds of thousands answered the call. The result was the settlement of so-called "Volga Germans" deep inside Russia around the Volga River. The settlers ultimately numbered nearly two million. They operated very prosperous farms and life revolved around Christianity. Of course, trouble was on the horizon with the advent of atheistic Communism and the world wars. Today, little remains of the Volga Germans in that area. 

It was the Italian airship "Italia" that was the first aircraft to fly over the north pole. In 1928, it succeeded in reaching the pole. Difficult weather conditions prevented landing but flags and a cross presented by the pope were dropped there. The airship never made it back to base due to extreme weather conditions and crashed on an ice floe. The crash caused part of the cabin to break free and ten men were thrown onto the ice, one of which was killed. These were rescued but the airship, suddenly free of a significant amount of weight, thrust back up into the sky with six of the crew still aboard. The airship disappeared into the clouds and has never been found or heard from again. 

It is worth remembering why the city of Trelew on the coast of Argentina has a Welsh name. In the Nineteenth Century, it was founded as a remote outpost for Welsh settlers far away from civilization. The settlement became quite prosperous and attracted more settlers from Wales and everything was done in the Welsh language. Times changed when refrigeration was invented. Argentine beef could be shipped to Europe on refrigerated ships, where it brought premium prices. Soon, much of Argentina became one vast ranch of cattle. Immigrants poured in, mostly from southern Europe, to become ranchers and gueros, the Argentine version of cowboys, and the once-remote Welsh outpost of Trelew suddenly found itself in the middle of civilization. 

China once had it's own version of Christopher Columbus. In the Fifteenth Century, over a hundred years before the voyage of Columbus, Zheng He is believed to have made seven voyages with fleets of large ships all around the Indian Ocean. There is a controversial opinion that he reached North America but certainly brought all manner of African animals back to China.

I wonder if Jesus was foretold by name, in the Old Testament about five hundred years before His time. The Book of Zechariah tells of a "Joshua" who will "take away the sin of the world in one day". This was written before the Hellenistic Age. What I find interesting is that the name of Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua.

Soldiers returning from war tend to start families. The Baby Boom, following the Second World War, is defined as those born between 1945 and 1964, and is seen demographically as a bulge in the population. But have you ever wondered why we do not seem to ever hear of a similar baby boom after the First World War? It is because so many people were killed by the Spanish Flu, maybe 50-100 million, and it tended to kill people in their prime.

Peter the Great, the best-known tsar of Russia's Romanov Dynasty, had his namesake city of St. Petersburg specially built as the country's capital city, moving the capital from Moscow. The Communists would later move the capital back to Moscow. To get new ideas Peter actually moved to the Netherlands and got a job as a laborer in a shipyard. He also visited England and became friends with William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. This voyage is known as the "Grand Embassy" and is remembered today because the Russian flag is actually based on the Dutch flag.

This is the Dutch flag. Image from the Wikipedia article "Flag of the Netherlands".

If we take the red bar at the top and put it at the bottom it gives us the Russian flag. Image from the Wikipedia article "Flag of Russia".

Something that I noticed but couldn't see pointed out anywhere is that the brilliant supernova in the year 1054, which created what we now refer to as the Crab Nebula, took place just as a momentous world event was going on. This was the ill-fated meeting in Constantinople between representatives of the pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople. The meeting would result in the Eastern Orthodox Church splitting away from the Catholic Church. All of the rivalry between east and west ever since, including Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the eastern fronts of both world wars and, the Cold War, have been secular manifestations of this split. The supernova, an exploding star, lasted a long time and was so brilliant that it was visible during the day. Could it have been a warning from God? It was documented in Arab, Chinese and, Japanese records but apparently not by Europeans.

Something amazing that I couldn't see had ever been pointed out is the parallels between the destructions of the Jewish Temple in ancient times and the splits in the Christian Church in more recent times. The original Israelite religious center was Shiloh, in the central highlands or what would today be called the West Bank. It was destroyed by the Philistines in 1050 B.C. Shiloh was never rebuilt because it was replaced by Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The siege by the Babylonians which destroyed that Temple began in 587 B.C. There is the famous prophecy in the Book of Daniel about the 69 "weeks of years", which amounts to 483 years. This was the time between the reconsideration of the Temple, after the return from exile in Babylon, until the Crucifixion of Jesus. The prophecy is actually of Seventy Weeks of Years but the final seven years is reserved for the time of the Antichrist. The two major splits in the church was the Eastern Orthodox, splitting away in 1054, and the Protestants, splitting away beginning in 1517. Notice that from 1050 to 587 B.C. is 463 years. From 1054 to 1517 is also 463 years. From 1517 to the beginning of the Millennium is 483 years. 

Chewing gum was actually brought about by the villain of the Alamo, and the Texas battle for independence, Mexican general and president Santa Anna. In his later years he was in exile in New York. He had a money-making idea of a plant-based substitute for rubber. The idea wasn't successful in that, but did lead to the modern version of chewing gum.

Indians, people from India, should emphasize zero more. It is impossible to do complex calculations with understanding the concept of zero, which was first developed in India. I consider this as the single most important invention ever and the modern world would be absolutely impossible without it. 

Thursday, October 15, 2026

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is the island nation, shaped like a teardrop, just off the southeast tip of India. The world atlas that I had when I was a boy had it's name as Ceylon. It's ancient name was Serendip. The name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972.

The island is very centrally located for trade, and for the conduit of new ideas. The majority group in Sri Lanka today are the Sinhalese and are Buddhist. But the population is about 15% Hindu Tamils. There are also minorities of Moslems and Christians.

Prince Vijaya is said to have been the first king of the island, in the Sixth Century B.C. He is believed to have arrived from India with a large group of followers.

Around 250 B.C. Mahinda, a son of the Indian emperor Ashoka, arrived with the message of Buddhism. Ashoka was known for his devotion to Buddhism. We do not usually think of India as a Buddhist country today, but it is actually the homeland of Buddhism and the circle on the Indian flag is the wheel of Buddhism. The wheel is named for Ashoka.

The island of Sri Lanka was not always united. There was the Jaffna Kingdom in the north and the Kingdom of Kandy was the last Sinhalese monarchy.

Anuradhapura was the capital of the island for about 1400 years. The domes are Buddhist stupas.

ALL IMAGES ARE FROM GOOGLE EARTH OR STREET VIEW 









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 the previews of successive scenes, if you so wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@8.3171449,80.3999051,3a,75y,312.13h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swMxScSWzW7467h8B8PzEEA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DwMxScSWzW7467h8B8PzEEA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D312.12598%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Jayawardene Pura is the capital area of Sri Lanka's largest city of Colombo.





There are the same kind of three-wheeled taxis as in India, that can easily change direction and make sharp turns on narrow streets.



The Sri Lankan Parliament is on an artificial island.















A landmark and symbol of Colombo is the Lotus Tower.








https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9330152,79.8439799,3a,75y,221.59h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOit-40981O-SBQk7Z0UEN5ChnlfhhYbbevydqt!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOit-40981O-SBQk7Z0UEN5ChnlfhhYbbevydqt%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0.5639364-ya309.34143-ro-0.32365683-fo100!7i7680!8i3840

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth, in the city of Kandy, holds a tooth that is claimed to be from the Buddha. Kandy is in the central part of the island.  The tooth indicated rule of the Kingdom and the Temple was within the complex of the former Royal Palace.










https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kandy,+Sri+Lanka/@7.2924455,80.6351297,501a,75y,160.49h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sF738sFNBRwxMFMQDBCLQtQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DF738sFNBRwxMFMQDBCLQtQ%26yaw%3D160.49448161409748!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x3ae366266498acd3:0x411a3818a1e03c35!8m2!3d7.2905715!4d80.6337262!16zL20vMDFzZzRf?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The island is famous for Ceylon Tea. During colonial days, Ceylon was the British name for the island. Tea is grown especially in the central highlands but there are other varieties of tea grown elsewhere.

One of the best-known brands in the world is Lipton Tea. If all of the Lipton Tea that I have ever had was put together, it would surely fill a sea.

Sri Lanka was once known for coffee production. An agriculturalist named James Taylor though of bringing tea to the island. A fellow Scot named Thomas Lipton marketed the product and now it is a global name.

This is Sri Lanka's tea-growing country.

https://www.google.com/maps/@7.114049,80.6194324,3a,75y,296.01h,95.26t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMNQxmi9KaM2iPqbkOCN4syFzwqplU-ED0sD_tT!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMNQxmi9KaM2iPqbkOCN4syFzwqplU-ED0sD_tT%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya136-ro-0-fo100!7i9000!8i4500

Tamils arrived in Sri Lanka from India around the Third Century B.C. Unlike the Sinhalese Buddhists, the Tamils are Hindu by religion.

Nallur, within the northern Sri Lankan city of Jaffna, was the medieval capital of the Jaffna Kingdom.




https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nallur,+Jaffna,+Sri+Lanka/@9.6746968,80.0289228,7a,75y,139.1h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sht5NJ-XZ09aWh1j7DX3owQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3Dht5NJ-XZ09aWh1j7DX3owQ%26yaw%3D139.10428603597143!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x3afe5420b220eb2b:0xce53b2eef3cae567!8m2!3d9.6701547!4d80.0395205!16s%2Fg%2F11c5b1cp57?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Jaffna Fort was a colonial-era fort, built in the Seventeenth Century. It was first Portuguese, then Dutch, then British. It is in the far-northern part of the island.

Jaffna, in the north of Sri Lanka, was the center of the Tamil population of the island, with their religion of Hinduism. Kandy is a Sinhalese center, with the Buddhist religion.




https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jaffna,+Sri+Lanka/@9.6681633,80.00942,8a,75y,73.35h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1szRH86OIJjkTZxlbny8A1sg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DzRH86OIJjkTZxlbny8A1sg%26yaw%3D73.35108660861833!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x3afe53fd7be66aa5:0xc7da0d9203baf512!8m2!3d9.660599!4d80.0117023!16s%2Fm%2F0266536?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

There used to be harmony between Tamils and Sinhalese, but relations deteriorated after independence in 1948. The Tamils, in the north and east of the country around Jaffna, demanded an independent homeland to be called Tamil Eelam. "Eelam" being the old Tamil name for the island. It could be called an effort to revive the Jaffna Kingdom.

A military group called the "Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam" was formed, usually abbreviated as LTTE. As anyone who has followed the news for the past few decades knows, what followed was a very nasty 26-year civil war, lasting from 1983 to the final victory of the Sri Lankan Army over LTTE in 2009.

India had peacekeepers in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990. The city of Jaffna suffered especially heavily during the civil war. The city was held by LTTE. Indian peacekeepers temporarily took back control of the city. The Sri Lankan Army finally regained control of the city in the mid-1990s.

Whether or not LTTE is a terrorist group depends, of course, on one's perspective. But it was very effective, in military terms, and has been studied by similar groups across the world.

Rajiv, Gandhi was the prime minister who sent Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka's Civil War. He was the son of Indira Gandhi, who had been assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 due to another conflict. The Gandhis of Indian politics were not related to Mahatma Gandhi, the hero of India's 1947 independence. India Gandhi was the daughter of the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She happened to marry a man named Gandhi, but the name probably didn't hurt her political career and the family's Congress Party used to really dominate the politics of the country.

In 1991, after the Indian peacekeepers had been withdrawn from Sri Lanka, Rajiv Gandhi was campaigning near Chennai. A crowd was there to greet him. A teenage girl got close to him and bowed as a greeting, but she had a bomb concealed in her clothing. It turned out that the girl was a supporter of the Tamil Tigers.

The Rajiv Gandhi Memorial is on the site, in southern India, where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, because of the Indian Peacekeeping force that was sent to Sri Lanka during it's Civil War.



One thing that I really like about Sri Lanka, aside from tea, is that the traffic lights have timers that display a countdown until the light changes.