Thursday, September 17, 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".   

Gujarat

Gujarat is the state in northwestern India that is the home state of the current prime minister, Narendra Modi. Gujarat is also home to one of the most common surnames in the world, Patel. There are the famous "Patel Motels" across the United States. 

It is believed to be possible to travel all around America and, every night, to stay in a motel whose owner is named Patel. According to one estimate, one out of every four motels in the United States has an owner with a surname of Patel, which originates in Gujarat State.

Gujarat was once an Islamic sultanate that was later part of the Mughal Empire. After independence several new states were created, often based on language. Bombay State was divided into Gujarat and Maharashtra. There had been a princely state, called Junagadh, in Gujarat. It's Moslem leader wanted to join Pakistan, even though the territory wasn't contiguous. But most of the population was Hindu and it ended up with India.

The largest city in Gujarat is Ahmedabad, named for the Gujarati Sultan Ahmad Shah. The oldest part of Ahmedabad on the east side of the Sabarmati River. The following scenes begin at the Teen Darwaza, the triple gateway that was built when the city was founded in 1411. Like so many old cities, it used to be walled.

ALL IMAGES ARE FROM GOOGLE STREET VIEW OR GOOGLE EARTH 

This is the Teen Darwaza.


This is the nearby Jama Masjid.



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 wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@23.0243083,72.5846283,3a,75y,122.4h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMHNQ5nwIVEgxW0kly-QG9j8CgSXtC0nwoXQV5c!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMHNQ5nwIVEgxW0kly-QG9j8CgSXtC0nwoXQV5c%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya124.59018-ro0-fo100!7i5760!8i2880

This is along the Sabarmati River, which flows through Ahmedabad. 







https://www.google.com/maps/@23.0197051,72.5735791,3a,75y,124.5h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOxab_Z16wt-uvribbPaDCPXXFOm2--hPKTXuJm!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOxab_Z16wt-uvribbPaDCPXXFOm2--hPKTXuJm%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya112.02382-ro-0-fo100!7i6912!8i3456

It seems that each city in India has it's own two colors for the three-wheeled taxis. In Ahmedabad it is green and yellow. Having only one wheel in front enables the taxi to make a sharp turn on narrow streets. Some of the taxis have the front wheel under the body but this one has it forward, covered by a fender.




This is the newer side of Ahmedabad.








Surat is the other major city of Gujarat. This is Surat Castle. 



Here is more of the old part of Surat.









Gujarat not only has the largest stadium in the world, the Statue of Unity is the tallest statue in the world.



Where India Began

The Indus Valley Civilization was actually the beginning of India but is mostly in what is now Pakistan. It was one of the great centers of civilization in ancient times. My belief is that the reason it didn't reach the heights of contemporary civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia is that this area is so prone to flooding and earthquakes.

The Himalayas are relatively young mountains and the tectonic collision that formed them, between the Indian Subcontinent and mainland Asia, is still going on, as can be seen in the very destructive earthquake of 2005 in this area. Earthquakes and floods are why civilization moved away from the Indus Valley, southward into India, but this is where India began.

We have seen two great centers of early civilization in the Middle East. There was Egypt and Mesopotamia. We saw Egypt in the postings "Ramesses I" and "The Underground Orion Correlation Theory". We saw Mesopotamia in "Mesopotamia And Basra". Just as the water of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the basis of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt was centered around the fertile lands along the Nile River.

But there was a third center of early civilization in the general area, some distance to the east. This third center is not as well-known as Egypt or Mesopotamia. It left no spectacular pyramids like those in Egypt. The remains of it's cities were only just found in the Twentieth Century, and are not as well-known as those in Mesopotamia such as Ur, Nineveh and, Babylon.

But what I want to show today is that this third center of early civilization was every bit as important as those in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

What is now referred to as Mohenjo-Daro was a city that was founded about 2500 B.C., and lasted for about 600 years. The name of Mohenjo Daro is believed to mean "The Mound of the Dead".

It is located in Sindh Province of Pakistan, which was part of India until 1947. Just as the other two great centers of civilization in the Middle and Near East were located around great rivers, Mohenjo Daro was built beside the Indus River. The city is believed to have been destroyed by Indus River flooding and earthquakes and rebuilt several times, before finally being abandoned.

There is another city of what is called the Indus Valley Civilization, known as Harappa, about 585 kn (365 miles) northeast of Mohenjo-Daro. The actual names of the cities, or the civilization of which they were a part, is not known. The city of Harappa is simply named for the nearest Pakistani village to it's location. The entire civilization is sometimes referred to as the Harappan Civilization. There are other settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization, but these are the most familiar.

The Indus Valley Civilization is known for it's handling of water. It had extensive sewers and drains and flood barriers. There was trade with the other two centers of early civilization, Egypt and Sumer.

A seemingly fascination connection is with the word "industry". The Indus Valley Civilization was very adept at working with metals. The much later Industrial Revolution would revolve around the use of metal, to build such new devices as steam engines. The name seems to have come from the early civilization, but I cannot find any certain connection between the two. Besides, the Indus Valley Civilization was not known until the Twentieth Century.

The reason that the Indus Valley Civilization did not last is either frequent earthquakes, climate change, Indus River flooding, or a combination of all. We can easily see today what caused it to be abandoned in the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the tectonic collision of India with south Asia which formed the Himalayas is not quite finished yet, and the catastrophic 2010 floods in the same area.

What happened is that the Indus Valley Civilization was abandoned, leaving behind the remains that we see today. The former inhabitants migrated to the southeast. They became the founding people of India, known as the Dravidians. 

No one has yet been able to read the writing of the Indus Valley Civilization that has been found, but it is believed to be related to that of the Dravidians. Those in the area today are mostly descended from later invaders, particularly the Mughals.

In the following map of Dravidian languages, notice how one group is far to the northwest of the others. The Brahui, in green, may have been the result of a later migration, rather than a remnant that stayed behind in the original area of the Indus Valley Civilization. But it is located close to this ancestral homeland of the Dravidians. Image from the Wikipedia article "Dravidian Languages".


After the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization had migrated to the southeast, to become known as the Dravidians, northern India and Pakistan underwent the series of invasions which brought the new people who would make up the rest of modern India. There was the Aryans and then the Persians. The Greek empire of Alexander reached as far east as India, and traces of it remain today.

The Mauryan Empire was led by a famous king, Chandragupta. His son was Bindusara, and then his son was Ashoka. Ashoka is known to history for his conversion to, and support of, Buddhism after seeing the carnage of war. We do not usually think of India as being Buddhist, but northern India is actually where Buddhism began and the wheel on the Indian flag of today is actually a Buddhist symbol.

What could be called the Golden Age of early India was the Gupta Empire. This is believed to be when the idea of zero came into being, without which the modern world would be impossible. The numbers that we use, the 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, are referred to as "Arabic numerals". But it is probable that they began in India and were brought to the west by Arabs.

Pakistan first became Moslem when it was conquered by General Muhammad Bin Qasim. This brought Islam to northern India. Moslem states in India, such as the Delhi Sultanate, opposed the three related invaders who would enter northern India later, the Mongols, the Timurids and, the Mughals, as we saw in the posting on this blog, "Why We Should Understand The Mongols".

But India is actually named for the Indus River. The names of the predominant language and religion, Hindi and Hindu, as well as Pakistan's Sindh Province, all come from the name of the river. All of the later invaders, who arrived from the northwest, did not know that they were passing through the territory of the Indus Valley Civilization, where it all began, because cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were not found until the Twentieth Century.

"Bharat" is another name for India, somewhat like "Columbia" is another name for America. There seems to be a movement to use the name of Bharat. I wonder if it is because most of the Indus River, for which India is named, is now outside India, in Pakistan.

The following scenes, from Google Street View, are of Mohenjo-Daro, in Pakistan's Sindh Province.




The best-known feature of Mohenjo Daro is the "Great Bath". Image from Google Street View.


This is Harappa, to the northeast of Mohenjo-Daro, in Pakistan's Punjab Province. The first four scenes of Harappa are from Google Street View.









The Golden Temple

The Sikh religion is centered in the northern Indian state of Punjab. This is the state in the west that was divided between India and Pakistan just as Bengal in the east was divided. The most important Gurdwara, or temple, of the Sikh religion is the Golden Temple, which is in the city of Amritsar near the border with Pakistan.

Sikhism began in the Fifteenth Century. The founder, and first Sikh Guru, was Nanak, who was from a Hindu family. One day Nanak was missing, and was presumed to have drowned. But he emerged with the famous words "There is no Hindu. There is no Moslem". Islam and Hinduism were polar opposite religions. This indicated that neither was entirely correct and that Nanak had found the correct route. This was the beginning of the Sikh religion.

Many people consider Sikhism as containing elements of both Islam and Hinduism. The belief is in one god, as in Islam, but the god is the "supreme truth". But it is a separate religion and not part of Islam or Hinduism.

The word Sikh means "disciple". Male Sikhs have five external elements, the most visible of which is the turban. Baptized male Sikhs take the name "Singh", which means lion. But not everyone named Singh is a Sikh. Everyone sharing the same name is a renunciation of the Hindu Caste System, in which a person's name indicates their caste.

There were ten Gurus of the Sikhs, with Nanak being the first. The Ninth Guru had been executed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The Tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, decreed in 1708 that thereafter the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib or Adi Granth, would itself be the Guru.

Sikhism is a religion, and not an ethnic group. Sikhs may be of different ethnic groups. There is an ethnic group across northern India called the Jats. But not all Sikhs are Jats and not all Jats are Sikhs.

There are maybe 30 million Sikhs altogether, with many in Canada. Sikhs are sometimes in the news for separatism in India, the possibility of having their own country called Khalistan. But it seems to be more of an issue among Sikhs in Canada than those in India. Relations between India and Canada have sometimes suffered over Canada allegedly harboring Sikh separatists.

The Golden Temple is at the end of a peninsula in a square pool. It was first completed in 1589 and was not always golden. Image from Google Earth.

ALL OF THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE FROM GOOGLE STREET VIEW