Thursday, March 12, 2026

Introduction To This Blog System

                                                                                                                                                                                          

Image used by permission

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 five major scientific theories, each arranged in the form of a textbook. The first four of the following five 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 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".   

Dublin

St. Patrick was a real person. The story is that pirates from Ireland raided a coastal village in Britain, and taking several young people as slaves. The future St. Patrick was one of these slaves, and was put to work on an Irish farm. He had not been a practicing Christian but now began to pay more attention to his faith.

After several years, he received a vision from God showing him how to escape, and made his way back to his home village. He then began to believe that God wanted him to go back to Ireland, not as a slave but this time as a missionary and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. The shamrock is so important to St. Patrick's Day because he is said to have used it to illustrate the principle to the three-in-one of the Holy Trinity. Ireland became a powerful early center of Christianity, eventually sending the missionaries who converted much of northern Europe.

This is what approaching Dublin by ferry looks like. First you see Howth Head, the headland that extends into the sea. Then you see the two stacks of the former Poolbeg Power Station. Both images from Google Earth.



There are good deals on hotels in European cities. But beware. If you see a train overpass right next to your hotel it probably means that you will be waking up whenever the commuter trains start running. This is where I stayed in Dublin.


The following images begin in a courtyard of Dublin Castle. The cylindrical stone building is the outside of Dublin Castle. The first two images of Dublin Castle are from Google Earth. Notice that Irish castles often include a church. It's not a bad idea to have God on our side.



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/@53.343175,-6.2674355,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DrfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D76.898773%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

The following twelve images of four important sites in Dublin are from Google Earth or Street View.

Trinity College, south of the River Liffey, is one of those great European universities and was founded in 1592.




This is the Irish Parliament.



This is St. Patrick's Cathedral. But he probably never visited Dublin because it was, at most, a minor settlement in his time.





This is Christchurch Cathedral.




These seven views of central Dublin are my images from the posting "Travel Photos Of Europe", February 2024. All but the first one were taken north of the River Liffey.







This is the Wellington Monument, in Phoenix Park. In the Nineteenth Century, when Britain and Ireland were one country, Arthur Wellesley who was a native of Dublin, became one of Britain's greatest prime ministers. Before that he had been a great general, who was the nemesis of Napoleon.


On display at Trinity College is the famed Book of Kells. This is a richly illuminated copy of the Gospels that was produced in an Irish monastery about 1200 years ago. It is possibly the most valuable book in the world. The following image is from the Wikipedia article "Book of Kells".


The following scenes begin outside the brewery of Jameson's Irish Whisky.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3481348,-6.2766321,2a,75y,346.95h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1st5ZjM-9kVVCqJ9BmyM0C3Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dt5ZjM-9kVVCqJ9BmyM0C3Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D352.12512%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Another famous brewery, that we saw in the travel photo blog of Europe, is, of course, the Guinness Brewery, just south of the River Liffey. The company came up with the idea of providing something to debate and discuss while drinking Guinness, and the result of the project is the Guinness Book of World Records. My image.


The reason that the color green represents Ireland is obvious. The frequent mild rain and limestone soil provide the green grass that gives it it's nickname of "The Emerald Isle". This is what Ireland looks like from up high on Google Earth.


The Land Of St. Patrick

This week is St. Patrick's Day, which is Ireland's national day. St. Patrick was a real person, not a legend. In the Fifth Century, some pirates from Ireland raided a coastal village in Britain and took several young people as slaves. The future St. Patrick was put to work on an Irish farm. He had no idea where he was but said that God gave him a vision of how to escape and get back home, which he did. But afterward, he began to feel that God wanted him to return to Ireland, not as a slave but as a missionary. His time as a slave in Ireland proved useful, because now he was familiar with the language and customs.

My blog is the right color already so that every day is St. Patrick's Day here. We have already seen Dublin, in a separate visit. What we will do here is visit the population centers of Ireland, other than Dublin. Our tour will start in the northeast corner, and move clockwise around the country.

A good place to begin our tour of Ireland is at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dundalk, which is in the northeastern corner of Ireland. Like many other cities and towns in Ireland, Dundalk grew into a city as a settlement of the Normans who arrived in Ireland. The eastern part of Ireland is the province of Leinster, the provinces are further divided into counties. The word "county" is placed first so that Dundalk is located in County Louth. The reason that counties in Britain are called "shires" is that was the original word, "county" is a word from the Normans. following scenes are other views of Dundalk.

The first image of St. Patrick's Cathedral is from Google Earth.


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/place/St+Patrick's+Cathedral/@53.339551,-6.2723163,2a,75y,87.1h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjkR3Ws1IqW0BvOLAS_N8mA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DjkR3Ws1IqW0BvOLAS_N8mA%26yaw%3D87.09975553235023!7i13312!8i6656!4m6!3m5!1s0x4844a7096c3558a5:0x92c8e69bb625b154!8m2!3d53.3395154!4d-6.2714767!16zL20vMDFidGx3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Moving southward, we come to Drogheda. One thing that is significant about this town is it's name, which is in the native Irish language. Like many cities, there use to be a wall around Drogheda. My feeling is that there used to be many more walls than there are today. But walls are for protection, and when times change so that the wall is no longer needed, it tends to be dismantled as a ready source of stone for other building. The following scenes begin outside St. Peter's Church in this medieval town. The first image is from Google Street View.



Moving clockwise around Ireland from there we would next arrive at Dublin, the nation's capital. But we have already seen Dublin in a separate visit. Dublin originated as a city with the arrival of Vikings who built a settlement there.

Next, we come to Wexford. In the southeast corner of Ireland, the area of Wexford is where invaders such as Vikings and Normans would land. Wexford began around the year 800 as a Viking settlement. One of it's landmarks is Johnstown Castle, which was begun by the Normans around the year 1169. These two views of Johnstown Castle are from Google Street View.



This is Selskar Abbey in Wexford. Image from Google Street View.


The Normans, who arrived in Ireland several hundred years after the Vikings had built settlements there, actually were Vikings. France had ceded some land to the Vikings, along the coast of the English Channel. These Vikings adopted French language and customs and became known as Normans. The land which they held along the English Channel coast is now known as Normandy.

From there, they crossed to England. Their speaking of Norman French very much affected the English Language, as we saw in "Traces Of The Normans".

From Britain, the Normans crossed to Ireland. As they had in France and Britain, the Normans adopted the culture and language of the land. It seems that it would be better to be a conqueror than the conquered. But over the long term, the view is sometimes different. When a group of people conquers other people, it actually puts itself in danger of disappearing into the people that it has conquered. This is particularly true of conquerors who adapt the language and customs of the land, and when occupation troops begin marrying local women.

There is no trace of the Vikings or Normans as distinct people today because they have become part of the lands where they conquered and settled. This is also true of the Hyksos, of the ancient Middle East who ruled Egypt for a time, and even great conquerors like the Mongols and Mughals.

The following scenes are of Wexford. The castles and other prominent buildings are typical of old Ireland, made of that familiar gray limestone and surrounded by a carpet of shiny green grass. The sun is shining in most of these scenes but we know that Ireland must get it's share of rain for it to be so green that it became it's national color. This eastern part of the country, with the settlements of the Vikings and Normans, is known as "Ireland's Ancient East". In the southeastern part of Ireland is also the area known as the "Viking Triangle".



There are monasteries, many in ruins, all over the country. Ireland was a vital center of early Christianity and from these monasteries missionaries went across northern Europe. The monasteries were also the centers of education, and this is why Ireland is known as "The Land of Saints and Scholars". From one of these Irish monasteries came the Book of Kells, an early handwritten copy of the Gospels, which it today on view at Trinity College in Dublin, and may be the most valuable book in the world.

An abbey is the church of a monastery. Sometimes, it can be as large as a cathedral. In Protestant countries, a church that originated as a monastery church but was opened to the public after the Reformation is still usually called an abbey. Protestants generally do not do monasteries, although that is not a strict rule. This is Tintern Abbey.

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2363521,-6.8384353,3a,75y,75.79h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1si1trEKGb_JWEZC0akcTb6w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Di1trEKGb_JWEZC0akcTb6w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D67.53005%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Also near Wexford is the Kennedy Homestead. This is the ancestral home of America's Kennedy family. President John F. Kennedy returned here in 1963, shortly before he was assassinated in Dallas. These scenes also show the farms, green fields and, country lanes, which is what most of Ireland is like. The first image of the Kennedy Homestead is from Google Street View.



https://www.google.com/maps/@52.346265,-6.9804046,2a,75y,74.18h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sP9861pLBDQrGEzJk1-xAXQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DP9861pLBDQrGEzJk1-xAXQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D65.11953%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Waterford is another city in southern Ireland that was settled first by the Vikings, and later by the Normans. Waterford is about a thousand years old. The southern province of Ireland is known as Munster. The first image, from Google Street View, is of Reginald's Tower in Waterford.



Kilkenny is known for it's Norman Castle. This is what another Norman castle, Chepstow Castle in Wales, would look like if it was better-preserved. The first two images are from Google Earth.




https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6500353,-7.2495908,3a,75y,194.75h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1seU9lIu-_OP0nkCvfb4KC_A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DeU9lIu-_OP0nkCvfb4KC_A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D189.07448%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Cork is the largest city in Ireland, after Dublin. Like so many other places, it is of Viking origin. In another immigrant returning to the old country story, like John F. Kennedy, Henry Ford, of automotive renown and of Irish ancestry, opened a factory at Cork which operated until the 1980s.




https://www.google.com/maps/@51.9290682,-8.5709704,3a,75y,112.07h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNrX8KXNmdKtFUexcYn5Qx0duJLMa8RSWC9jjUW!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNrX8KXNmdKtFUexcYn5Qx0duJLMa8RSWC9jjUW%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya43.975853-ro-0-fo100!7i11264!8i3672

Among the sights that the city of Limerick is known for are King John Castle, from the Fourteenth Century, and the earlier St. Mary's Cathedral. King John Castle is a classic Norman castle that was built over an older Viking complex. These two images of it are from Google Street View.



Finally, we come to the west coast city of Galway. The western province of Ireland is known as Connaught. Like Leinster in the east and Munster in the south, Connaught is divided into counties. While Galway is an old city, and was heavily walled and fortified, it's cathedral was only built in the 1960s. The remote northwestern part of Ireland, on the other side of the Shannon River, is referred to as "West of the Shannon".

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Galway,+Ireland/@53.2751212,-9.0566914,3a,75y,62.01h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sCIHM0ogKEICAgIDE6cKjHw!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fgpms-cs-s%2FAFfmt2Yoj7L22zTmeIx1P4IvAV74ZroIpnN71kVBYwkRJDqnTMC1yKcU1BsFOCHLGoI-zXkiLTvGqmMde4bleEMGLHDy9Y5kitiBlctGj93lcYG3-8RAy2RD4vcMcIrhF5oDkFjNMh9Y%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi0-ya59.61100074905599-ro0-fo100!7i5376!8i2688!4m6!3m5!1s0x485b93955a2d5bff:0x32b1b440a495281!8m2!3d53.274001!4d-9.0512662!16zL20vMG1fX3o?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

We have not followed the itinerary of St. Patrick in this tour of Ireland. We have concentrated on the east and south of the country, while St. Patrick is known to have visited mostly the north and west. But I wanted to concentrate our visit on the population centers.

Let's remember what St. Patrick was really about. He actually was not about being proud to be Irish, even if you are only Irish for St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick was about Christianity. At the time of St. Patrick, the island was ruled by various Celtic chiefs and the concept of Ireland as a nation was far in the future. He did not preach to remember to wear green but to follow God. He did not select the shamrock to be the symbol of Ireland but used it to show that, just as the shamrock has three section but yet is one so the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and, the Holy Spirit, are three but yet are also one.

There is one thing about Irish history that does not get much attention. Being settled by Vikings and Normans has created a division in Ireland that remains to this day. Many common Irish surnames are actually of Norman origin. This includes those beginning with Fitz-, such as Fitzgibbon, Fitzgerald and, Fitzsimmons. The common name "Walsh" actually means "Welsh", to designate Normans who came to Ireland after their recent ancestors had settled in Wales. There are lists of Norman-Irish names online.

In contrast the names of the "original" Irish people, who were there before the Vikings and Normans, often end in the common -ey. This is certainly not a strict rule. For example, I get the impression that "Sullivan" is an "original" Irish name, that is not of Norman origin.

The 1921 treaty for Ireland's independence, sharply divided the Irish people. One side supported it while the other opposed it. The two sides in that disagreement are the descendants of Ireland's two main political parties today, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael (the names are in Ireland's native language).

Observers noticed that Irish people with Norman surnames were more likely to support the 1921 treaty, and to make up the Fine Gael party today, while Irish people with "original" Irish surnames were more likely to oppose the 1921 treaty, and to make up Fianna Fail today. Obviously, this is not a strict rule as Eamon de Valera was the founder of Fianna Fail. He was actually born in New York and his father was Spanish. But we can see how the Irish history of nearly a thousand years ago lives on in the politics of today.

The Emerald Isle

For everyone whose favorite color is green, here are twenty pics of Ireland. All images are from Google Street View.

County Monaghan 




County Meath




County Westmeath 




County Galway 

County Cavan 




County Laois 

County Kilkenny