Thursday, July 27, 2023

America's Midwest

Today's visit may not be an exact definition of the area comprising America's Midwest. But then, it doesn't seem to have an exact definition.

We have already visited "Chicago" and "Cleveland".

The city of Erie, in Pennsylvania, is not actually part of the Midwest. But I wanted to take this opportunity to revisit and say hello to my old sales territory. 

Erie is a traditionally industrial city. It's advantage is in it's location, on Lake Erie and approximately midway between Cleveland, Pittsburgh and, Buffalo. 

Erie began with a French fort built on a good natural harbor. The harbor enclosure is now a park called Presque Isle. There is a narrow connection to the mainland and "presque" means "almost", in French. So the name of the enclosure is literally "it's almost an island".

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 on the up arrow you can then hide previews of successive scenes, if you so wish.


Akron is an industrial city in Ohio. It is known as the headquarters of Goodyear Tire and Rubber. I live not far from a Goodyear factory.

One sad story is how inventors don't get treated very well. Charles Goodyear discovered how to vulcanize rubber, which is limited in it's usefulness otherwise. It is difficult to imagine the world today without rubber tires. But he spent time in debtor's prison and died absolutely broke. He never knew what the process that he invented would amount to.

Years later, a rubber company was named in honor of him. Today it is the global brand that bears his name. But he never knew anything about it.

This is Akron.


Columbus is the state capital of Ohio. State capitals are almost always near the geographic center of the state. After the U.S. Civil War there was a series of presidents from Ohio, starting with Ulysses Grant who had been the leading general of the Union.


Toledo is an industrial city in northwestern Ohio that was named for the city that had been the capital of Spain when it had been ruled by the Moors.


Detroit is the largest city in the state of Michigan. It is known as the "Motor City" because of the production of cars there. America's largest three automakers, General Motors, Ford and, Chrysler all have their headquarters in Detroit.

I have not spent a lot of time in Detroit but have read extensively about it. I walked around the Northland Center Mall once, it was one of the prototypes of the modern shopping center.

One story that should never be forgotten is Detroit's heroic production during the Second World War of military vehicles and equipment. It was amazing and Detroit did as much as any city to win the war. Neither America's allies nor it's enemies could keep up.

Many black Americans from the south moved northward in what is known as the Great Migration. Detroit was a primary destination for the work in it's factories.

During the Rock Music era, the record label of Motown emerged in Detroit. The name was a contraction of "Motor City". Motown, with black musicians, became a legend. It's most famous musician was probably Diana Ross.

The glass towers of downtown Detroit are known as Renaissance Center. The headquarters of General Motors is here and one building is a hotel. Detroit is connected to Canada by both the Ambassador Bridge and a tunnel. The following scenes begin there.


Cincinnati is in southern Ohio. It is west of the Appalachians and was founded just after America's Revolutionary War. I believe that the main reason for America's war of independence against Britain was not "taxation without representation", or any such thing. The colonies were doing quite well.

What happened is that the mountains and ridges of the Appalachians were much more of a barrier than they are today. Few colonists had ever been west of the Appalachians.

But the French and Indian War changed that. For the first time, many colonists saw the vast rich lands that were west of the Appalachians. They wanted those lands but Britain, which had control westward to the Mississippi River, had forbidden further westward expansion.

After the end of the French and Indian War, which gave the colonists military experience, it was only a matter of time before they declared independence from Britain.

After the end of America's war of independence, the move westward began. A town was founded at the meeting of two rivers that is today the city of Cincinnati.


Louisville is in the state of Kentucky. I have never been to Louisville but it's influence has always been all around me.

As a child I played a summer of Little League Baseball. The bat was called a "Louisville Slugger". As a teenager I hoped that the great but aging world heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, would come up with enough sense to retire and be remembered as a winner. 

The year that I graduated high school was a rare "Triple Crown" year. This means that the same horse wins not only the Kentucky Derby but also Preakness and Belmont. Louisville is the world capital of horse racing.

I was interested in powerlifting, but wouldn't take steroids. At age 21 I deadlifted 500 pounds ( 227 kg ) at the local YMCA. I would read about a legendary pioneer of the sport, from Kentucky, named Bob Peoples.

Also during my youth I worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, now KFC.

All of this is based in Louisville.

Kentucky sometimes likes to portray itself as a southern state. In the U.S. Civil War the Confederacy claimed it but never had control of it. Some Kentuckians served with the Confederacy but many more served with the Union.

Louisville is named for Louis XVI, the French king that was an ally of the new United States and the first foreign leader to give it diplomatic recognition. He would be overthrown and guillotined by the French Revolution of 1789.

We saw in the compound posting on this blog, "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris" that the real reason for America not joining the rest of the world in embracing the Metric System is that it was invented by the bloodthirsty revolutionaries who had overthrown and guillotined America's close friend.

This is Louisville. The story about Muhammad Ali dropping his Olympic Gold Medal off the bridge into the river actually might not be true.


Indianapolis is in the center of Indiana. This was actually the original "Motor City" and that is why what might be the best-known single auto race in the world is held there.


Minneapolis, in Minnesota, is a city that was built on flour milling in a vast wheat-producing area. It is a highly-rated place to live.

Minneapolis is actually a twin city with St. Paul. Minneapolis is said to be more cosmopolitan while St. Paul is quiet and staid. The two downtowns are not far apart.


St. Louis is the city in Missouri that is named for the 13th Century French king that was sainted. We saw in our visits to Mexico that San Luis Potosi was also named for him.

St. Louis began as a French fur trading settlement. It is just on the west side of the Mississippi River and passed to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase.

It's location makes St. Louis America's "Gateway to the West". This is what the St. Louis Arch represents. If we let a cable hang between two supports it forms a shape called a catenary. This is the form of the St. Louis Arch and it is a very strong shape, as we saw in the posting on this blog, "The Way Things Work", July 2011.

Here is St. Louis.

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U.S. Ethnic Distribution

With our visit to America's Midwest today let's have a look at it's ethnic distribution.

While working at jobs taking calls from across the U.S., the name and address of the caller would appear on my computer screen. As many thousands of calls were taken, certain definite patterns in the ethnic distribution of the country, going by the names, became apparent.

ARRANGEMENT OF IMMIGRANT GROUPS

I realized how the major European ethnic groups in the U.S. had arranged themselves in much the same way as their homelands were in Europe. The Italian-American heartland is the northeastern U.S. On a map, this part of the country forms a peninsula just as Italy does on a map of Europe. New York City, with it's considerable population of Italian descent, occupies about the same position on this "peninsula" as does Rome on a map of Italy.

As the population of Germany increased in the Nineteenth Century, space became more scarce on the Luneberg Heath, the plain across the northern part of the country. Many of those who wished to farm headed for the open spaces of the U.S. midwest. To the north of Germany is the Scandinavian countries and, just as in Europe, immigrants from those countries positioned themselves to the north of the Germans, particularly in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

In Europe, to the east of Germany lies Poland. Bringing this pattern to North America, Polish settlers positioned themselves to the east of the Germans. In fact, I noticed what we could call a "Mirror Poland" in the U.S. Warsaw, Poland's capital city, is toward the eastern part of the country. If, in America, Chicago represents the new Warsaw, cities like Cleveland and the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga can be considered as new versions of Polish cities to the west of Warsaw.

But in America, Chicago is to the west of the Polish community while in Poland, Warsaw is to the east, making this part of the U.S. a mirror version of Poland. However, Poland did not exist as a nation when the wave of immigrants came in the late Nineteenth Century and the last time Poland existed territorially before that Warsaw was indeed to the west of the country. I noticed a new wave of Polish immigrants to the U.S. since the end of the Iron Curtain and these are focused on New York City instead of Chicago.

In Europe, Portugal is a small country on the edge of the continent against the ocean. Fitting this arrangement pattern, Portuguese immigrants to America have chosen Rhode Island as the New Portugal and could not have picked a state that came closer to mirroring Portugal's position in Europe.

On a map, Texas resembles geographically the Indian subcontinent. This might subconsciously draw Indians to settle there and indeed Texas has about 8.7 percent of America's population but about 11 percent of it's immigrants from India.

This immigrant arrangement pattern does not include those whose homelands are not far away from America. Cubans simply cross over to Florida and Mexicans occupy what we could call the "Natural Mexico", which includes the lands of the U.S. southwest which were once a part of Mexico.

DISPERSION OF IMMIGRANT GROUPS

A number of patterns in the dispersion of immigrant groups also became apparent to me. Irish-Americans have dispersed throughout the country from their traditional heartland of Massachusetts much more than Polish and Italian immigrants have. I could detect only a faint concentration of Irish names around Boston. It is true that Irish immigrants arrived before those from Italy and Poland but I believe a major factor was that those from Ireland arrived speaking English.

It is easy to see which ethnic group was the first immigrant settlers, and the influence of the Civil War of 1861-65 also shows up. The only concentration of Anglo and Scotch names in America is in the south. In other areas they seem to be the background among which other groups settled. This is because the waves of immigrants from Europe in the late Nineteenth Century went to the north, particularly New York City, because it had won the Civil War. The Anglo and Scotch names were in America before the Civil War.

Another easy way to tell which group settled a place first is the names of the places. In eastern New York State, the place names are often Dutch but the resident's names are far more likely to be Italian (Roosevelt means "Rose Field" and Tappan Zee means "Inland Sea" in Dutch).

It is obvious that the heartland of African-Americans is the southern states. In the rest of the country, black people are very heavily concentrated in cities. The only place I noticed a significant number of black people in small towns was in the south, presuming that I could tell a black person by their voice. If I had never heard of the town I presumed it to be a small town. This clearly indicates that the black dispersion from the south to the rest of the country was relatively recent.

German-Americans seemed to me to be the most rural but black Americans are by far the most urban. If German-Americans can be said to have a city, it is Milwaukee or maybe Omaha. More recent immigrant groups tend to choose a hub city. The concentration of Arab names around Detroit is really striking and Fresno continues to serve as the hub for Armenians in America.

THE HUB CITIES FOR IMMIGRANTS

America's two great hubs for immigrants are, of course, New York and Los Angeles. The important factor to consider is whether the immigrant group arrived primarily by ship or by plane, thus indicating the time frame of arrival.

In the past, immigrants arrived by ship. Thus by simple geography, Europeans arrived in New York and the far fewer Asians in Los Angeles. This can easily be seen in previous immigrant patterns but now has changed completely due to airplanes. Europeans seemed to me to be as likely to land in Los Angeles as Asians were to start out in New York.

One recent immigrant group that does not seem to start out in the primary immigrant hubs as much as the other groups is those from India. The reason is obvious, there is no Indiatowns like there are Chinatowns simply because Indian immigrants tend to speak English.

America is full of both French and Spanish names. Yet, I notice no concentration of these names at all around the traditional hub cities. French names are concentrated in the northern New England states and Spanish names in the southwest, in Florida and, in New York City.

This tells me that there was little direct immigration from France to America and the ancestors of most Americans with French names were French-Canadians first. Since we know the Spanish names around New York belong mostly to Puerto Ricans, it is also clear that there was little direct immigration from Spain to the U.S. and that these immigrants came from other countries in the western hemisphere.

These patterns in immigration do not show up as well in Canada because it's population is so concentrated against the southern border instead of being spread throughout the country or in Britain because it has only been a major immigrant destination for the past fifty or sixty years and two thirds of it's immigrants are concentrated in the London area.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023

Chicago

Chicago is by far the largest city of the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, near the southern end of the lake.

Rarely has there been a more natural location for a city. With Lake Michigan as a waterway, Chicago is the focal point of America's Midwest. Trains arrive from all directions as ships arrive on the lake, so that goods, raw materials and, livestock are manufactured or processed and then transferred from one to another. It soon grew into America's largest city, after New York, and is still the country's largest city after New York and Los Angeles.

The advantages that those two cities have is their more direct ocean ports, but no other city has Chicago's central location to the agricultural heartland, combined with it's access to the Great Lakes as a waterway. There is also a canal, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, that gave ships on the Mississippi River access to Chicago. Although that canal is now more likely to be in the news for the danger of allowing Asian Carp into the Great Lakes.

That central location was reflected in the late Twentieth Century in that Chicago's main airport, O'Hare, was for decades the busiest airport in the world. The passengers on it's flights were not all destined for Chicago but the city's location made it's airport ideal as the main hub for changing flights.

Downtown Chicago, referred to as "The Loop", is centered around the Chicago River. The construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal reversed the direction of the river so that it now brings water in from Lake Michigan, rather than flowing outward into the lake.

One of the symbols of the city is the famous sign on the Chicago Theater. The following scenes begin there.

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/@41.8848654,-87.62799,3a,75y,26.09h,97.05t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1svqVPU5EtUUfMD6IEyTAr5w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DvqVPU5EtUUfMD6IEyTAr5w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D64.18616%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

The Art Deco style stone building in the first of the following views is the Merchandise Mart. This was once the largest building in the world and was later owned by the Kennedy Family.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8869321,-87.6350612,3a,75y,357.51h,95.79t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sOP6xKdNPUiIu1hScofadCA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DOP6xKdNPUiIu1hScofadCA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D130.92589%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Chicago's version of Coney Island is Navy Pier. The black building in the skyline that is shaped like an elongated, but unfinished, Pyramid, with dual antennas on the top, is the John Hancock Building.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8922487,-87.6022357,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s9MlB-3DlHyzHTU61IUglrg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D9MlB-3DlHyzHTU61IUglrg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D186.44312%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Just north of The Loop, along North Michigan Avenue, is the Magnificent Mile, and some more views of the tall buildings.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8953566,-87.624183,3a,75y,56.73h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1stJatqjEQIe0G0FtDV_SRLw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DtJatqjEQIe0G0FtDV_SRLw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D48.605026%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Further north from downtown is the neighborhood known as Gold Coast.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9078206,-87.6276237,3a,75y,167.19h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sIn1N8DFxWtVMLz34CZg9sw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DIn1N8DFxWtVMLz34CZg9sw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D170.39877%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Chicago's version of Central Park is Grant Park. 1968 was a year of turmoil in the U.S. There was racial riots in the cities, violent protests against the Vietnam War and the rise of the counterculture, centered around the Hippies. The Democrat National Convention was held in Chicago.

The Democrat Party, one of America's two major political parties, was generally preferred by the counterculture and the anti-war movement. But the party was in as much turmoil as the country as a whole. President Lyndon Johnson was a Democrat, and was eligible to run for reelection in 1968, but he announced that he did not want the nomination. This opened the way for Robert ( Bobby ) Kennedy, brother of the popular president John F. Kennedy who had been assassinated, to seek the nomination. But he had also been assassinated, earlier in 1968, as had Martin Luther King, which had inflamed the racial tension.

As the Democrat National Convention was going on, to decide on a candidate for the upcoming election, there was a massive counterculture and anti-war rally in Grant Park. The Chicago Police were, to put it mildly, not gentle in dealing with the protesters. Some people claim that the rally's display of disturbing disorder was what cost the Democrats the 1968 election. Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson's vice-president, got the Democrat nomination but lost to Republican Richard Nixon on election day.

Not long after this, one of the greatest bands of the rock music era emerged. It was named for the Chicago Transit Authority, the corporation that operates Chicago's buses and trains. How often does a transit authority get a band named for it? Later, the name of the band was shortened to simply "Chicago".

A little bit earlier, there had been another prominent band that had been named for the fountain in Grant Park. It is called Buckingham Fountain, and the band was "The Buckinghams". Their peak year was 1967. The following scenes begin at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8752306,-87.6187774,3a,75y,340.19h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1suBK1oTsfgAvC7SLc19e0oA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DuBK1oTsfgAvC7SLc19e0oA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D344.98535%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Many major companies have their headquarters in Chicago. Boeing relocated there, much to the disappointment of Seattle. The first of the following views are of the "Hamburger University", where McDonald's trains it's franchisees at it's main headquarters.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8842244,-87.6540054,3a,75y,164.53h,95.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sZZYET0VcFKrAmN0qublOzg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DZZYET0VcFKrAmN0qublOzg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D254.15695%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

In October of 1871, much of the city was destroyed in the Chicago Fire. The closely-packed buildings of what is now the central part of the city were made mostly of wood. The weather recently had been very dry. This was before the days when most people would have electricity. Lanterns operated on oil or kerosene. Most cooking was done with an open flame. One evening, the inevitable happened.

The legend is that a Mrs. O'Leary's cow knocked over a lantern that started the fire. But a legend is all that it is. Mrs. O'Leary has since been completely exonerated.

Artifacts from the fire are occasionally still being found. I recall reading that some digging was being done when a mysterious mass of metal was found. Closer examination revealed that it was a clump of nails that had been melted together by the heat in 1871.

Anyway, it is known where the fire started and it was decided that it would be a good location for the training academy of the Chicago Fire Dept. The first of the following scenes begin there. The stepped black building, with the dual antennas on top, is the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower. Like a pyramid remaining from a once-great civilization, this serves as a reminder of what an important company Sears once was.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8690096,-87.6418002,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sYV3dVsBhQpw4aepO79u-AQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DYV3dVsBhQpw4aepO79u-AQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D86.59827%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

The sculpture in the center of the first of the following views marks the spot, at the University of Chicago, where the first controlled nuclear reaction took place, in 1942. This first nuclear reactor was massive, and extremely crude, but it worked and demonstrated a chain reaction.

It had to be so massive because, as of yet, there was no enrichment of uranium, separating out the fissionable isotope 235 atoms, so that only one of every about 140 uranium atoms was actually fissionable. Many thousands of blocks of graphite, which is actually the "lead" in pencils, were assembled as the moderator, to slow down neutrons.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7925296,-87.6013267,3a,75y,91.17h,95.39t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s9t64zCz4EekSS7TxXAmJUg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D9t64zCz4EekSS7TxXAmJUg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D131.63976%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Finally, in the northern part of the city, one of the most historic and best-known sports stadiums in America is Wrigley Field. This is the area around there.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9482192,-87.6573772,3a,75y,90h,95.8t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1syiHgXY2fWiim05XxGiro_w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DyiHgXY2fWiim05XxGiro_w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D42.779022%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100
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The Concentration Of Matter In Space

This is being reposted because more has been added to it.

The distribution of matter in the universe, relative to space, is extremely sparse. A figure that is sometimes given is that, in the universe as a whole, there are about three hydrogen atoms per cubic meter of space. That is so sparse that the density of matter, relative to space in the universe as a whole, is nearly infinitesimal. It is probably not something that we could attach a meaningful number to.

With the expansion of the universe the density of matter overall is becoming even more sparse. But galaxies tend to collect in groups, we call ours the "Local Group". The groups are moving apart, but not the galaxies within a group. Although the density of matter within a galaxy is still extremely sparse, it is maybe a million times the density of the vast, empty reaches of intergalactic space. Not to mention that the interiors of atoms themselves are almost all empty space.

This theory that I have developed to explain the sparseness of matter in the universe offers another explanation of quantum physics. Even if we cannot effectively put a number on it the density of matter, relative to space, is information, and that information must have come from somewhere.

There is an interpretation of quantum physics, the "Copenhagen" Interpretation, that has a quantum system inhabiting all possible quantum states but then, when it is observed, it undergoes collapse into only one state. The observation itself is a vital part of the quantum interaction.

In the universe there were a nearly infinite number of arrangements and patterns that matter might have taken, following the Big Bang, but of all those possible patterns the matter of the universe took only one of them, the universe that we see today.

What do you notice here?

1) The density of matter in the universe, relative to space, is nearly infinitesimal.

2) The number of possible patterns and permutations that the matter in the universe might have fallen into is nearly infinite. But it fell into only one of those patterns, which is the universe that we see today.

Could there be a connection between those two things? The density of matter in the universe, relative to space, is information. This information had to come from somewhere. Where else could it have come from? Isn't this the most logical answer, that there must be room left in space for every arrangement of matter in the universe that might have been, but only one of those arrangements actually comes to be?

Let me state now that I have decided on the terminology "might have been" rather than "could have been" because "could" seems to imply that it should have been.

My theory is not that the universe we see is what happened, but the information of what didn't happen must still be out there somewhere whether in parallel universes or unrealized quantum states, but that the empty space must be maintained for the information of what might have happened but didn't happen and the matter of the universe that did happen must exist within the vastness of this empty space.

Could it be that there is a great number, we can designate it as P for "pattern" or "permutation" even if we cannot effectively determine it's value, that describes both the density of matter relative to the space of the universe, 1 / P, and the number of possible patterns or arrangements that matter in the universe could have taken, P? 

Suppose that we are looking for a particular address on a street. The address that we have is information. It contains more information if there are more houses on the street that it is not. 

Remember my definition of complexity. The complexity of a number, or the amount of information within it, is the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a ratio or fraction. Thus 1/10 contains twice as much information as 1/5.

In a similar way the particular arrangement of all the matter in the universe is an address, one permutation among many. Having an address doesn't make any sense unless there are other addresses that it might have been. Empty space is all of the addresses that it might have been, but is not. Every bit of information that went into matter and it's arrangement in the universe might have been different. All the matter of the universe comprises one address, as opposed to multiple addresses, because it is all interrelated and has a common beginning.

If there is movement of matter in space, so that the pattern changes, it still doesn't change the basic possible number of patterns. The possible arrangements continue as lighter elements are fused into heavier ones by way of fusion in stars, but the value of P stays constant because the matter of the universe has a common origin in the Big Bang. Being other than constant would mean that information is either being lost or gained out of nowhere.

Most matter that we deal with consists of atoms. Sub-atomic particles tend to be electrically-charged, such as protons and electrons, and an ordinary atom has equal positive and negative charges so that it's overall charge is zero, although an atom can become an ion by losing or gaining an electron. The fact that the inside of the atom is almost all empty space would be a reflection of all that the atom might have been, given that atoms are the universal structure of matter that balances out positive and negative electric charges, but it became only one of these possibilities.

The vast majority of the inside of an atom is empty space. This is also one address among many empty addresses, and the empty space is information. The ratio of matter to space inside the atom is, again, a subset of P, because it involves only the inside of the atom.

Hydrogen atoms, of course, have the highest proportion of empty space, relative to matter. Heavier atoms were formed by fusion and so lost some of this information by radiation. But since the two electric charges in the universe are a given, some other structure where the two opposite charges balance out might have formed and the "empty addresses" within atoms are a reflection of this.

What I find interesting is that there is a particle that is overall neutral in electric charge and balances out the negative and positive charges. This particle is the neutron. But neutrons are not primary particles. They are formed by crunching an electron into a proton, known as K-capture. 

Furthermore neutrons exist only within atoms, if a neutron is alone outside an atom it will break down into a proton and an electron in an average of about 15 minutes. This is because a compact neutron does not maintain all of the "empty addresses" representing the many forms that the primary zero charge structure might have taken while an atom, with all of it's internal empty space, does.

One obvious thing about matter that might have been different is the equal, but opposite electric charge on an electron and a proton. We describe this charge either as -1 for an electron or +1 for a proton. But, had the universe been different then this charge might have been different. If the charge was greater then atoms would likely have been more massive and less massive if the charge was lesser.

The density of matter, relative to space, within galactic groups could also be a subvalue of P, in a way similar to within the atom. The universe is expanding but the expansion is the vast galactic groups moving away from each other. The density within galactic groups is relatively constant, the Andromeda Galaxy in our Local Group and our galaxy are actually moving closer to each other. The subvalue means just the density of matter in the space inside our Local Group, and the number of possible patterns that matter could have taken of which only one became reality, of only our Local Group of galaxies once it formed.

There can only be such a subvalue of P in a unit of space that has become partially independent of the rest of the universe in how the matter in the unit is arranged. If we wanted to determine the subvalue for the earth, for example, we would have to go back to the star that preceded the sun which scattered it's matter across space in a supernova. Our determination would have to involve how that star formed, and what it's P subvalue was.

At any rate the density of matter in space is information, and this information must have come from somewhere. There is some number that describes the density of matter in space, which I am calling P, even if we cannot effectively determine what that number is. 

It isn't information if there was no possibility of it being different. That which is comprises information but to be information it must be set against that which isn't, so that which isn't is also information, and information cannot just be lost. Information is what is set against the background of what might have been but isn't.

For something to be somewhere else in the universe it would have to have been something else. The empty addresses must be there to represent what might have been but wasn't.

The only thing that makes sense to me as being the source of the density of matter in space is the reciprocal of the total number of possible arrangements that matter could have taken, and that number I refer to as P. The one that it took is the arrangement of matter that we see in the universe today.

My cosmology theory, "The Theory Of Stationary Space", has it's own explanation for the sparseness of matter in space, that matter is one dimension, of the two dimensions of the original two-dimensional sheet that was dispersed among four dimensions of the background space. The other dimension of the sheet was released as energy, in what we perceive as the Big Bang. 

But these two answers are different ways of expressing the same thing. The more dimensions of space there are, relative to the one that became matter, the more "things that might have been" there will be.

Not only is there space that must be empty because it represents the "empty addresses" of "things that might have been", there must also be a universe of patterns that go unmanifested. We have geometric forms, such as squares, cubes, circles, spheres and, triangles. But there must be many others that are not manifested because the matter of the universe never fell into those patterns. 

This applies not only to geometric forms but also to the basic patterns of the universe that we saw in "The Theory Of Complexity". There could also be missing numbers that might have been manifested but we cannot imagine because they never get manifested by the matter of our universe.

I am presuming here that the one thing that might not have been different is that the universe is compromised of two electric charges, negative and positive. In my cosmology theory empty space consists of a checkerboard of alternating negative and positive changes, in multiple dimensions. These two charges are why there are two opposite directions in each dimension of space. If there were three opposite charges there would have to be three opposite directions in each dimension. This theory here is about arrangements of matter in space, rather than the space itself.

There are two basic sets of quantum theories. 

There is the "collapse" scenarios, such as the Copenhagen Interpretation, where any quantum system exists in a multitude of quantum states until it "collapses" into only one state upon being observed. The observation is a vital part of the quantum interaction.

Then there is the "many worlds" scenarios. In this way of looking at quantum interactions there is no "collapse" into one quantum state but there must be unseen parallel universes so that what might have happened, but didn't happen, in this universe must happen in another universe. Basically there can't be anything that could have happened but didn't happen, because what didn't happen is information also and information cannot just be lost.

There is also an idea by the physicist Richard Feynman called the "Path Integral". What this says is that what happens is to take everything that could happen and add them all together.

But what none of this really takes account of is space, particularly the concentration of matter in space. The sparseness of matter in space is information, and information must have come from somewhere. The question is not only why the arrangement of matter in space is what it is but also why the concentration of matter in space, it's sparseness, is what it is.

What I am stating here is that the present arrangement of matter in space is one of many "addresses" that might have been but weren't, and matter is concentrated in space in such a way that the "empty addresses" of things and arrangements of things that might have been but weren't must be preserved, because they are part of the information of what is. 

What I refer to as an "address" here is not a particular location but the particular arrangement of matter in the entire universe. The density of matter in space should be a vital part of quantum physics and neither of the sets of quantum theories takes this into account.

FAR OUTER MATHEMATICS

The patterns and mathematics that are not manifested by our universe but might have been manifested if the universe had been different are what I refer to as "Far Outer Mathematics". Here is an explanation of what I mean.

We use mathematics to describe the world around us. To be able to describe something using mathematics we must completely understand it. Once we do we can do all kinds of useful calculations because everything we know operates by the same mathematics.

But we do not have unlimited capacity to understand the world around us. Our minds have a certain complexity and we can only understand that which is less complex than our minds. Anything that is more complex than our minds we would not be able to understand enough to apply mathematics to it because we would have to be "smarter than ourselves", which is impossible.

Somewhere out there is a formula that describes everything that you do. You cannot access it because it deals with your mind's own complexity and this would require you to be "smarter than yourself", which is impossible. But yet this unseen formula must operate by the usual mathematics. 

This is what I refer to as "outer mathematics", mathematics which must exist but which is beyond our grasp because of our own limited complexity. All of textbook mathematics is "inner mathematics", which is within our grasp.

But aside from this set of "outer mathematics" there must be a still more distant set of outer mathematics. As stated we use mathematics because it effectively describes the world around us. But what if that world, actually the entire universe, had been different? 

The matter that all except particle physicists deal with is made of atoms. We could say that atoms are "exclusive" so the mathematics that works for us uses numbers and has the basic operations; addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponents, roots, etc. What I mean by "exclusive" is that atoms, and the matter that is composed of them, does not come into existence spontaneously and stays as it is until something changes it.

The numbers that we use have no real existence until they are manifested in some way. There is no such thing as the number six that we can see but we see it whenever we have six of something. But any number must exist whether it is manifested by anything or not. Consider the number 37,683,992,651,801,384,161,079,177,209,184. Let's refer to this number as "W". It may be that nowhere in the universe is this number manifested anywhere, but it is still just as much a number nonetheless because it could potentially be manifested. Just as a parking space still exists whether or not there is a car in it.

The mathematics that we use, both inner and outer mathematics, works for us because the matter that we deal with is as it is, matter could be said to be "exclusive". This means that more than one set of matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time and matter cannot come into existence out of nothing. But what if matter, or the entire universe, was completely different?

There would still be mathematics that described it although it would be completely different from the mathematics that we are using. If matter, or whatever that universe was made of, was non-exclusive then there would be no reason for the addition, subtraction and, so on that we use. If that universe was somehow immeasurable or unquantifiable mathematics might express the effect that it has on the living beings rather than what it is actually made of.

Mathematics is inevitably related to scarcity, of not having everything that we need or want and of having to labor to get what we don't have or build what doesn't yet exist or get to somewhere other than where we are. Have you ever noticed that there is no mention of mathematics in Heaven? In Heaven we will have everything we want so why would we have any need to calculate?

The universe of atoms, electric charges and, electromagnetic radiation that we have is just one of an infinite number of possibilities that the universe could have been. It is like rolling dice. The numbers that came up are our universe. The numbers that didn't come up are all of the universes that never physically existed, but yet these numbers still exist.

But the mathematics, completely different from our own, that would have described them must nonetheless still exist. Just as we saw with the number "W" above, a number still exists whether it is manifested or not and the mathematics, which we cannot begin to imagine, of every different universe that never actually existed must also still exist.

This is what I refer to as "Far Outer Mathematics". It is the mathematics of would-have-been universes and physical realms that do not even use the same basic operations as the mathematics that we use. What we could call "Near Outer Mathematics" is, as explained above, mathematics that would use the same basic operations but is beyond our reach because we could not completely understand something whose complexity is greater than our own.


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Thursday, July 13, 2023

Donald Trump And Classified Nuclear Documents

Why on earth would a former U.S. President bring many boxes of classified government documents to his mansion in Florida when he left office, stack the boxes in a bathroom, and then show the top-secret documents to dinner guests?

This could not only greatly damage national security but the former president could be arrested, and possibly sent to prison. It could definitely terminate his expressed plans to run for office again. Not to mention gravely damaging his place in presidential history. Remember that the first thing most people think of when the name of fellow Republican Richard Nixon is mentioned is the Watergate Scandal.

Most of the documents were not about espionage and counter-espionage, which might be the most sensitive documents, but about nuclear weapons.

Doesn't everyone see what is happening? There is a very simple explanation for it.

Remember what we saw recently in the postings "Inducing The Apocalypse" and "The End Of The World As We Know It". Donald Trump, knowing that some people would report the documents, was trying to alarm the world enough to induce the emergence of the Antichrist, who will seem to have all the answers to everything. This sounds like a negative thing, and it is, but the emergence of the Antichrist will mean that Jesus will return to establish His Kingdom on earth seven years later.

So not only is there the Russian Government threatening the west with nuclear weapons over the war in Ukraine, now there is a former U.S. President carelessly dispensing the information that anyone needs to build their own nuclear weapon. Certainly what the world needs is someone to emerge with all the answers before it's too late.

The Russian Government, at least the top few members, are also trying to induce the emergence of the Antichrist, as we saw in the recent posting "Prophecy And War In Ukraine".

Billionaires like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are now in their 70s and won't be able to take any of their wealth or power with them when they go. But they both have a much greater goal that makes their wealth seem utterly trivial by comparison. They could gain a place in eternal history by inducing the emergence of the Antichrist so that the Return of Jesus to earth will happen seven years later.

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St. Petersburg And The Romanovs

The Romanov Dynasty is still alive, although it may not be certain who the Tsar of Russia would be if they were still in power. Let's have a look back at the Romanovs and their magnificent capital city of St. Petersburg. 

Although the Communists, who replaced the Romanovs in 1917, moved the capital back to Moscow and renamed St. Petersburg as Leningrad today the name of the city has been restored to St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin is from St. Petersburg, and the Romanov flag has replaced the Communist flag.

The city of St. Petersburg was founded, in the early 18th Century, by the Russian tsar known as Peter the Great. He was the grandson of the first ruler of the Romanov Dynasty, and this is where the Romanov leadership was based for over 200 years. The city was especially built, by forced labor, to be the westward-facing capital of the country, with a seaport and naval base, and the capital was moved there from Moscow.

By the way, the city of St. Petersburg in Florida was named after this city. When on the trip to western Europe, known as the "Great Embassy", Peter the Great became friends with William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. The name of Pennsylvania means "Penn's Woods". Maybe there should be a city in Pennsylvania named for St. Petersburg.

During the First World War the name of the city was changed to Petrograd, which sounds more Russian. After the Romanov Dynasty ended, and the Bolsheviks came to power, the name was changed to Leningrad in honor of Lenin. After the end of Communist leadership, the name was changed back to St. Petersburg.

An incredible volume of world history is packed into this city, considering that it was founded barely three hundred years ago.

This is the Peter and Paul Fortress, which is an original part of the city, located on an island in the river. The church with the very tall steeple is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is within the fortress. It is where most of the Romanov rulers are buried.

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

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9506425,30.3173665,3a,75y,209.68h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-sjdLyXppAzA%2FV0smK827UwI%2FAAAAAAAABYI%2FUc-KDxOXxSoWcuP5YkNgon3a_n_7CBOmgCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-sjdLyXppAzA%2FV0smK827UwI%2FAAAAAAAABYI%2FUc-KDxOXxSoWcuP5YkNgon3a_n_7CBOmgCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya316.92538-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i9728!8i4864

This is Palace Square and the Winter Palace from where the Romanov Dynasty, with some exceptions, ruled Russia. This great palace was actually built, over time, in four separate stages. The Alexander Column, in the square, is in honor of Tsar Alexander I, who was the victor over the forces of Napoleon which invaded Russia. The Admiralty Building is next to Palace Square, and is actually where the main streets of the city converge. The Winter Palace is now part of the Hermitage and is one of the best art museums in the world. The Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg is in the nearby Mariinsky Palace.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9393093,30.3167461,3a,75y,108.08h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-4LwlELB8V_o%2FVv76DpkqufI%2FAAAAAAAANn8%2F4s0QGeZ0VAc3rDnkTu8qqFHlsCkur_XfQCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-4LwlELB8V_o%2FVv76DpkqufI%2FAAAAAAAANn8%2F4s0QGeZ0VAc3rDnkTu8qqFHlsCkur_XfQCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya223.09868-ro0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

This is Kazan Cathedral, completed in 1811, with the colonnades in the front, facing the famous street called Nevsky Prospekt. There is also a Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, in Red Square.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9342662,30.3244542,3a,75y,279.77h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sNqdNZ729XdLFAFSDva7Zfw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DNqdNZ729XdLFAFSDva7Zfw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D288.96783%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The most visible landmark in St. Petersburg is St. Isaac's Cathedral. This is a massive structure that resembles other great Baroque-era cathedrals, such as St. Peter's in the Vatican and St, Paul's in London. The young age of the city is seen in the fact that there are no Gothic cathedrals because it was only founded in the early 18th Century, long after the Gothic era. The Peter and Paul Cathedral, within the fortress of the same name, was the original cathedral of the city. St. Isaac's was built in the mid-19th Century.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.933876,30.3059502,3a,75y,71.24h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-V1jJYg7htlU%2FVDkLy9rcnuI%2FAAAAAAAArws%2FOA6Zp31FOy4HewPLjNprc6D26_Ph8BT4gCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-V1jJYg7htlU%2FVDkLy9rcnuI%2FAAAAAAAArws%2FOA6Zp31FOy4HewPLjNprc6D26_Ph8BT4gCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya57.868935-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i10240!8i5120

Near the center of St. Petersburg is the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood. The story of this spectacular cathedral is the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. He was killed by a bomb that was thrown at his carriage. He was rushed to the Winter Palace, but was bleeding profusely and his life could not be saved. The church was built over the site of the assassination, and the shrine at the opposite end of the church from the altar marks the exact spot of the assassination. This was the tsar who sold Alaska to the United States.

This is an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral, which closely resembles the iconic St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, and is definitely not in the Baroque style of St. Isaac's and Kazan Cathedrals. The interior of this cathedral is rich iconography and golden halos typical of Eastern Orthodox churches. What is now the nearby Russian Museum used to be the Mikhailovsky Palace. The statue of the tsar riding a horse, at the adjacent Marble Palace, is Alexander II son and successor, Alexander III.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9401246,30.3287861,3a,75y,254.09h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-hxb3fc_E8n0%2FWI0S0iS0jpI%2FAAAAAAAADGc%2Fysan0isGEpc5ldRL7Ev8fZDImUhI4A5ZACLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-hxb3fc_E8n0%2FWI0S0iS0jpI%2FAAAAAAAADGc%2Fysan0isGEpc5ldRL7Ev8fZDImUhI4A5ZACLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya207.35701-ro0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

There were several assassins, each armed with a bomb. The idea is that, if the first one didn't get the tsar when he passed by, the next one would. It was the second assassin who threw the fatal bomb after the tsar insisted on stopping to see what had happened when the first bomb exploded.

Thirty-three years later a group of Bosnians, looking to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, would use exactly the same technique. This is what began the First World War, as we saw in the posting on the World and Economics blog, "June 28, 1914, Assassination In Sarajevo": 


Here are some scenes further down Nevsky Prospekt, which begins at Palace Square and the Admiralty Building, and might be the single most famous street in the world.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9315591,30.3572698,3a,75y,359.67h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sLnACM8U9Cnt4rwgD4qag7Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DLnACM8U9Cnt4rwgD4qag7Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D359.83426%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is around a complex known as the Smolny Convent. The river through the city is the Neva River.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9489299,30.3942011,3a,75y,77.7h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-99ayBvJWArI%2FV8Y1_xyRCFI%2FAAAAAAAAOqI%2FLKCIpljC8vQRAzI4WcvRYNM2hhx2IP3jgCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-99ayBvJWArI%2FV8Y1_xyRCFI%2FAAAAAAAAOqI%2FLKCIpljC8vQRAzI4WcvRYNM2hhx2IP3jgCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi3.4415038-ya66.561714-ro8.1394615-fo100%2F!7i7776!8i3888

This is Trinity Cathedral, and the surrounding area. One is never far from a river or channel in St. Petersburg.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9159037,30.305624,3a,75y,41.83h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srI-9hRvr4AraOysH3fvBcA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DrI-9hRvr4AraOysH3fvBcA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D24.16306%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is the Narva Triumphal Gate, built to celebrate the victory over the forces of Napoleon. It very much resembles Napoleon's own victory arch in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narva_Triumphal_Arch#/media/File%3ANarva_Triumphal_Arch.jpg

This is Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, in Paris. Note the Chariot of Peace on the top.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe_du_Carrousel#/media/File:Paris_-_Jardin_des_Tuileries_-_Arc_de_Triomphe_du_Carrousel_-_PA00085992_-_003.jpg

Here is the spectacular Naval Cathedral, located on Kronstadt Island just west of the city. If the interior of the cathedral looks somewhat familiar, it is because it is yet another great building that was modeled on the Hagia Sophia, which we saw in the posting on this blog, "The House Of Holy Wisdom, Where The Modern World Began". The cathedral was built in the early 20th Century, to replace an older church.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9916321,29.7779676,3a,75y,70.22h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-Zk8-QC3_rpI%2FV6Y87602XAI%2FAAAAAAAAAgc%2Fa_tm2rvjab8fYsedHeibAQx1nvScJ2ZBwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-Zk8-QC3_rpI%2FV6Y87602XAI%2FAAAAAAAAAgc%2Fa_tm2rvjab8fYsedHeibAQx1nvScJ2ZBwCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya143.28185-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

There are several Romanov-era palaces to the south and west of St. Petersburg. This is the Gatchina Palace.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.5635741,30.1076581,3a,75y,113.25h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGaet4ZHw_SUoWyVAeml_xQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGaet4ZHw_SUoWyVAeml_xQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D130.29858%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is the Palace, built by Peter the Great and known as the Peterhof, that is reminiscent of Versailles.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.8839581,29.9085106,3a,75y,103.57h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s1RGm3PwtRdhiDv7mZHZMMQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D1RGm3PwtRdhiDv7mZHZMMQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D115.682396%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is the Catherine Palace, a summer residence of the Romanov tsars, to the south of St. Petersburg. It was began by Catherine I, the widow of Peter The Great who ruled after his death. It was also important to another Catherine, the later Catherine II who ruled during the heyday of the Romanov Dynasty, and is known as Catherine the Great.

She had been a German princess who was chosen as a bride for Peter III, a grandson of Peter the Great and Catherine I, and who did as much as anyone since Peter the Great to make Russia a great power. It was during her reign that the so-called Russian Enlightenment was going on, and Russia had settlements on the west coast of North America and in Hawaii.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ross%2C_California#/media/File:FortRoss-chapel-reconstructed.jpg

Catherine was an avid art and antiquities collector, who began the vast museum complex known as the Hermitage which now includes the Winter Palace. The Winter Palace is on the right of the following photo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermitage_Museum#/media/File:HermitageAcrossNeva-2.jpg

This is the Catherine Palace.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.7157612,30.3963243,3a,75y,262.78h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sK5Vi7qHHJ2hmutRf9OGGlg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DK5Vi7qHHJ2hmutRf9OGGlg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D255.89497%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Adjacent to the Catherine Palace is the smaller Alexander Palace. This was built by Catherine the Great for her grandson, who would rule as Alexander I and be credited with the victory over Napoleon. This was where the last of the tsars, Nicholas II, was born, his favorite residence during his rule, being considered as more secure than the Winter Palace in the center of St. Petersburg, and where he and his family would initially be held after his forced abdication in 1917.

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

Ironically, the Romanov family would eventually be executed in the distant city of Yekaterinburg (or Ekaterinburg), the name of which means "The City of Catherine".

Catherine the Great would be succeeded by her son, Paul I. He was supposedly fascinated with knights and castles. So he built his own castle, St. Michael's Castle, where he felt safer than in any of the palaces, although he would be murdered in his castle soon after it was constructed in 1800.

Paul I was succeeded by his son, Alexander I. From that point on, all tsars would be named either Alexander or Nicholas. There would be three named Alexander, and two named Nicholas, before the end of the dynasty in 1917. Alexander II was supposedly the last tsar to actually live in the Winter Palace.

This is St. Michael's Castle, back in the center of St. Petersburg near the Winter Palace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Michael%27s_Castle#/media/File:RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-St_Michael%27s_Castle_02.jpg

A cannon on the warship Aurora fired a blank shot to announce the storming of the Winter Palace. The crew of the ship had joined the Bolsheviks, even though on the naval base on Kronstadt there would be a rebellion against them. This is the Aurora, now preserved as a museum, and the area around it. The Aurora is symbolic not of the Romanov Dynasty, but of it's overthrow in 1917.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9553884,30.3375124,3a,75y,69.12h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-oGH78BrRiOU%2FWEMXhocOeBI%2FAAAAAAAAHCY%2F96oaMaG22ewZdwZDD1D6uTQvcYNQOOV9ACLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-oGH78BrRiOU%2FWEMXhocOeBI%2FAAAAAAAAHCY%2F96oaMaG22ewZdwZDD1D6uTQvcYNQOOV9ACLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya22.699348-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8192!8i4096

The events of 1917 are somewhat more complex than sometimes portrayed. It was not actually the Romanov Dynasty, in the person of the last tsar Nicholas II, that was overthrown by the Bolsheviks. By the time of the October Revolution, which brought the Bolsheviks to power, Nicholas had already abdicated the throne months before. He gave up the throne for himself and his son and named his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as tsar. 

Michael refused to accept the throne and a Provisional Government was set up, housed in the Winter Palace. The Provisional Government was led by Georgy Lvov, who had married into the Romanov Dynasty. He would soon resign, and it would be led by Alexander Kerensky. 

Nicholas was pressured to abdicate the throne due to his supposed handling of the war and the economy. He resigned during what was actually the first Russian revolution of 1917, the February Revolution. It was a protest by workers in St. Petersburg, and soldiers that joined them, and lasted about a week. There had been an earlier revolution, in 1905, which had brought about some democratic reforms but had not brought down the Romanov leadership.

But now, with the war making conditions worse, Nicholas was perceived, whether correctly or not, as utterly indifferent to the situation of the vast majority of the population. This indifference was perceived by Nicholas' enemies as going back to when nearly 1,400 people were crushed to death by the crowds at his coronation. Tsarina Alexandra had, by this time, been left effectively in charge of the country as Nicholas left to visit the battlefront. It was hoped that the abdication of Nicholas II would bring calm.

The Narva Triumphal Arch had been a scene of demonstrations in the 1905 Revolution.


This well-known photo is actually from the February Revolution, not the October Revolution. You may be wondering why the caption states the "March Revolution", when it is usually called the February Revolution. The reason is that Russia was still using the Julian Calendar at the time, but converted to the Gregorian Calendar after the October Revolution. The Gregorian Calendar, which is what we are using today, is thirteen days ahead of the Julian Calendar. This means that the February Revolution actually took place in March, and the "October Revolution" was really in November. One of the many similarities with the French Revolution is that a new calendar was created at that time also, as well as the Metric System which remains today.


It didn't help the Romanov Dynasty that the tsarina (queen) was German-born, while the country was engaged in the First World War with Germany. The tsar himself was also of German and Danish ancestry. Remember that the royal families of European countries are far more entwined than most people are aware. The tsarina was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and the tsar was a distant cousin of Victoria.

King Edward, a grandson of Victoria, was a cousin of Tsar Nicholas. Both were also entwined with German royalty and Kaiser Wilhelm II, with whom they would soon both be at war, was another grandson of Victoria. 


Another famous character that did not help the Romanov Dynasty to stay in favor with the people was Rasputin. He was a religious figure from Siberia who, while having no official position in the church, was widely popular and supposedly had healing powers.

The youngest Romanov child was son Alexei, who was afflicted with hemophilia which had been inherited from the line of Queen Victoria. Since hemophilia prevents the blood from clotting, any bleeding is potentially fatal. Tsarina Alexandra had great faith in Rasputin, insisting that he had saved Alexei from death when doctors couldn't. 

The closeness of Rasputin to the Romanov family was greatly resented by the nobility. In December, 1916, they had him killed by luring him to a dinner. The story has persisted of how difficult to kill he was. They poisoned him, but the poison supposedly had little effect. They shot and clubbed him repeatedly, and then bundled him up and threw him into the river. He still wasn't dead, and managed to get out of the bundle, but finally died by drowning in the river.



The February Revolution of 1917, in which the Romanov Dynasty was replaced by the Provisional Government, was soon followed by the much-better known October Revolution. This is when the Bolsheviks seized power from the Provisional Government. The cannon on the Aurora fired the shot that commenced the Storming of the Winter Palace.

Vladimir Lenin emerged as the leader of the Bolsheviks. The Provisional Government had tried to have him arrested, but he escaped to nearby Finland. But now the tables were turned and Alexander Kerensky left for exile, eventually becoming a well-known university lecturer on Russian history in the U.S.

Kerensky and Lenin had been from the same hometown, and his father had once been Lenin's teacher.

It was Russia's German enemies that had brought Lenin to Russia. The German High Command was well aware of the class tension that was building in Russia, a few people owned the vast majority of the wealth, and of the unpopularity of the Romanov leadership. They brought Lenin from Swiss exile, by train to the Finland Station, in the hope that his leadership could bring about a class revolution that would incapacitate the ability of Russia to continue the war.

The plan of the German High Command to knock Russia out of the war by bringing in Lenin to forement revolution was absolutely brilliant. In fact, it worked too well. The revolution spread to Germany and brought the war to an end, as we saw in the following posting:


After the abdication, the Romanov family was first held in their residence at the Alexander Palace. In August following a mass demonstration against the Provisional Government, which had failed to win the confidence of the people, in which hundreds of people were killed, the Romanov family was moved to the distant city of Tobolsk for safety. After the Bolsheviks had replaced the Provisional Government, they were relocated to the Ipatiev House in the Ural Mountain city of Yekaterinburg, where they would stay for more than two months.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipatiev_House#/media/File:Ipatjew-Haus2.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_the_Romanov_family#/media/File:Russian_Imperial_Family_1913.jpg

By this time civil war was raging between the Reds, which were the Bolsheviks, and everyone from the left and right who opposed them, and were collectively known as the Whites. The Reds would ultimately triumph, but the White forces were advancing closer to where the Romanov family was being housed in Yekaterinburg.

The Bolsheviks were concerned that the Whites would free the Romanov family, and then seek to use them to gain support from their remaining supporters, whether in Russia or abroad. The decision was made that the wisest course of action would be to just kill them. There are so many conflicting reports about what follows next that it is impossible to state with certainty whether or not it was Lenin who gave the order. Lenin's older brother had been executed for a plot to assassinate Alexander III, the son of Alexander II who was assassinated as described earlier.

The family was awakened at about 2 AM on July 17, 1917, and told that they were being moved again for their own safety. They were led into a semi-basement room in the house, and told to wait. Two chairs were brought in, at Tsarina Alexandra's request, and there was a single light bulb in the room. After a few minutes, a group of men with guns came into the room. A statement was read to Nicholas, informing him that they were being executed. The executioners opened fire.

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

Nicholas and Alexandra are reported to have died quickly. But the room was dark and dusty, and it was in the days before smokeless gunpowder, and many of the shots bounced off the walls and wounded some of the executioners. It turns out that the princesses had diamonds, and other jewels, secretly sewn into their clothing, and the bullets kept bouncing off these diamonds. Finally, the entire family was dead and their bodies were to be secretly disposed of, to prevent any supporters from making a shrine out of their graves or remains.

My understanding of the burials that have intrigued and mystified the world for a hundred years is that the bodies were disposed of in a mine shaft outside the city. The executioners then realized that the burial site was known and returned to dig up the bodies, and rebury them at a site several miles away. But the truck got stuck in mud, and they decided to lighten the load by burying two of the bodies by the side of the road there. The truck also seems to have carried railroad ties to cover the graves. After that burial, they then decided to just bury the rest there also, which were then buried in a mass grave that was separate from the first two.

Another story is that the bodies were buried in two separate graves so that, if either grave was ever found, it would not be thought that this was the Romanov family, because there were not enough bodies.

The White forces gained control of the area a short time later, and concluded that the bodies were cremated at the mine shaft, and that there was no reburial. Most people now see this as incorrect.

The skulls of most of the family had been smashed, to make identification still more difficult if ever found. I read one story that the princesses had earlier had measles, and a photo was taken of them with their heads shaved. That photo proved invaluable in reconstructing the skulls of each victim from the bone fragments.

The final graves might have remained secret forever, except that one of the executioners lived nearby and liked to talk about the episode to anyone who would listen. An amateur investigator managed to glean enough information to find the mass grave, but not the first two, in 1979. During the Gorbachev era, when society became more open, the find was revealed. The other grave, with the first two bodies, was also later found.

This has enthralled the world ever since. There are persistent stories that Anastasia, the youngest princess, somehow survived the execution, movies and plays have been made about her supposed later life, although there doesn't seem to be much evidence to support it.

This is the complex of shrines for the Romanov family, outside Yekaterinburg. This is the site where the bodies were originally placed, not the final burial.

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.9422098,60.473259,3a,75y,77.87h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-OVk1Del1w3Y%2FV71N6nA5dfI%2FAAAAAAABMJ8%2FNWuZ5wIjJCMJMe9b7ofeLSgmRdQ-okRXgCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-OVk1Del1w3Y%2FV71N6nA5dfI%2FAAAAAAABMJ8%2FNWuZ5wIjJCMJMe9b7ofeLSgmRdQ-okRXgCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya69.49863-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

The Ipatiev House, where they were held in their final days, was demolished in 1977. But a church has been built on the site.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipatiev_House#/media/File:Yekaterinburg_cathedral_on_the_blood_2007.jpg

The Romanov Dynasty has been gone for a hundred years. There are a number of claims as to who would be the rightful tsar if it was restored today. But the Communist flag is also gone, and it is the Romanov flag that again flies over Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Russia#/media/File:Flag_of_Russia.svg
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The Far-Reaching Story Of Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin was a Soviet cosmonaut and the first man in space. He never made another space flight and was later killed in a military plane crash. But Yuri Gagarin has a far-reaching story that, as I see it, really changed the world.

With a charming smile Yuri Gagarin was popular wherever he went. At the height of the Cold War he was really the Soviet Union's most effective weapon, and visited countries around the world.

He visited my native England. The initial plan was a visit to London but he accepted an invitation to Manchester, and charmed people wherever he went. The Queen and prime minister had originally not intended to meet him but, taken by surprise by his popularity, arranged a meeting.

John F. Kennedy was clearly alarmed by his popularity and he was barred from entering the United States. Yuri Gagarin spoke at the United Nations but he was taken there from the airport by helicopter so, not having gone through customs, he technically didn't enter the U.S.

America ended up landing the first astronaut on the moon. How much of a coincidence is it that Neil Armstrong bore a striking resemblance to Yuri Gagarin? The U.S. was well aware of Gagarin's popularity and was clearly trying to create it's own version of him in Neil Armstrong although Gagarin, by the time of Armstrong landing on the moon, had been killed in the plane crash.

After we had landed in the U.S., but before the astronauts landed on the moon, I remember my mother and father telling me about a man who had been in space and had visited our native England. Had I not been told that I might not have picked up a children's book titled "Space" in the school library. This is what began my interest in science and without it I might not be writing this blog. 


More than twenty years after Yuri Gagarin's orbital flight times were changing. Mikhail Gorbachev took leadership of the Soviet Union in 1985. He began a "charm offensive", as well as extensive internal reforms.

Gorbachev's charm offensive took the world by surprise. It was clearly well-planned. I am sure that the earlier, highly successful, charm offensive of Yuri Gagarin, that was clearly feared by John F. Kennedy, was the model for Gorbachev's charm offensive. 

Gorbachev made the world a better place. I consider him as the world's most important person of the second half of the Twentieth Century. But since Gorbachev's policy abroad was modeled on Yuri Gagarin that means he changed the world in ways that go far beyond being the first man in space.

On 9 / 11 four passenger aircraft were hijacked and three were flown into buildings. On the fourth aircraft the passengers rallied and stormed the cockpit of the plane, overwhelming the terrorists. All were killed as the plane crashed into a field, but their actions saved whatever their target was, likely the U.S. Capitol.

As they stormed the cockpit the rallying cry of the heroic passengers was "Let's Roll". What I have never seen written about 9 / 11 is that "Let's Roll" was what Yuri Gagarin had said as his spacecraft was being launched.
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Insights Into News

 THE RELEASE OF LESLIE VAN HOUTEN

Former member of the "Manson Family", Leslie Van Houten, has been released from prison on parole. The Manson Family, led by Charles Manson, committed two horrific sets of murders in August 1969 in Los Angeles. Leslie Van Houten was involved in the second one.

With all the volumes that have been written about these killings there is something that I haven't seen. It is known that the murders of wealthy and famous white people were committed to make it appear that black militants had done it. This was a time of high racial tension. Manson's idea was that this would set off a great race war which would be the Armageddon foretold in the Bible. The result would be Manson ruling over the world as Christ.

The Second World War, still fresh in memory at the time, had been concluded with two successive atomic bombings, and Armageddon was naturally expected to revolve around such weapons.

What I have never seen pointed out about the Manson murders is that there had been two sets of murders in quick succession, the actress Sharon Tate was murdered in the first one and a grocery store owner and his wife in the second, just as there had been two atomic bombs dropped in quick succession. The first set of murders took place on August 9, which was the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing.

Is this a coincidence or was it planned this way?

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Algiers

With the recent uprising in France, caused by the police fatally shooting a teenager of Algerian descent, why don't we have a look at Algiers, the capital of Algeria.

The attractive Mediterranean city of Algiers, the capital city of Algeria, was founded in 944, around the same time as Cairo.

The city was known as a haven for Barbary pirates, who may have taken a total of a million people as slaves. The United States, as a new nation, fought a number of battles with Barbary pirates, which is why the hymn of the U.S. Marines refers to "the shores of Tripoli", which was another Mediterranean coast haven of the pirates, and later the power base of Libya's Moammar Gaddafi.

Algiers, after breaking free of Spanish rule, was under marginal Ottoman control. The rulers, until the French conquest of 1830, lived in a palace and were known as Deys. It was a walled city until the Nineteenth Century.

The histories of Algeria and France have been inextricably linked since 1830. This is seen in how the Monument des Martyrs in Algiers looks like it might be the Algerian version of the Eiffel Tower, and the Notre Dame D'Afrique being the Algerian equivalent of Notre Dame in Paris. It also shows in how the French Mediterranean city of Marseilles appears as just as much an Algerian colony today as Algiers was a French colony, and with France having the largest population of Moslems in Europe.

It has become practically a legend of how the pretext for the French invasion and occupation of Algeria was the last Ottoman Dey striking the French consul with a flyswatter during a dispute about French debts to Algerian merchants. The French took it as an act of war.

If Americans think the Vietnam War was a contentious issue in the 1960s, Algeria was a greater crisis for France in the 1950s. Vietnam had also been a French colony, and it seems that France let Vietnam go in order to concentrate on Algeria.

An uprising for Algerian independence began, and caused the collapse of the French Fourth Republic in 1958. This brought Charles De Gaulle back as president of the new Fifth Republic, with a stronger presidency. De Gaulle allowed a referendum on independence, and the country became independent in 1962. But the legacy of the relationship continues with millions of immigrants in France, and periodic crises such as the uprising in the Paris banlieus of 2005 and 2023.

Immediately after Algerian independence nearly a million French settlers, or their descendants, relocated to France. These returnees have been referred to since as Pied Noirs, literally "Black Feet". Most had been born in Algeria, and knew no other home. Many had never before been to their ancestral homeland of France. Their struggles to fit back into French society is another story in itself. Most Pied Noirs seemed to really miss life in Algeria.

In France, the change from one republic to the next means the adoption of a new constitution.
The First Republic was from the time of the French Revolution to the rise of Napoleon.
The Bourbon Dynasty made a comeback after the time of Napoleon, until their cadet branch were overthrown for good in the 1848 Revolution. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's nephew also known as Napoleon III, became president of the Second Republic, but when his four-year term was over he simply, in true Napoleonic fashion, declared himself as emperor as the Second French Empire.
The Third Republic was from when presidential rule was reestablished in 1870, to Nazi occupation in 1940.
The Fourth republic was mostly a continuation of the Third Republic after the war, until the collapse over the Algerian Crisis in 1958.
The Fifth Republic, starting with Charles De Gaulle as president, eventually acknowledged Algerian independence and the Fifth Republic is still with us today.

Here are some photos of Algiers during the time that it was under French rule. It was not considered as a colony, but as actually a part of France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Algeria#/media/File:Place_de_la_republique,_Algiers,_Algeria-LCCN2001697812.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Algeria#/media/File:Moorish_coffee_house,_Algiers,_Algeria-LCCN2001697835.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Algeria#/media/File:Moorish_women_making_Arab_carpets,_Algiers,_Algeria-LCCN2001697844.jpg

Here are scenes around the old Casbah area of Algiers. The Ketchaoua Mosque was built in 1794.

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

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.7820125,3.0622976,3a,75y,107.17h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMQ6JJ1-3OKyNiHS0i0F-0grUvTUmQdiaNoiGzw!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMQ6JJ1-3OKyNiHS0i0F-0grUvTUmQdiaNoiGzw%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya132.0981-ro0-fo100!7i10752!8i3328

One of the best-known buildings in Algiers is the post office. here are some scenes from around there, which is also in the old part of town. It is the building with the three arched entrance ways.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.7727235,3.058885,3a,75y,51h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-q37FjwSlLTI%2FV673epMMPpI%2FAAAAAAAAbh0%2FSSI0OUcSYjAGxA8-QCkP6L-36_az6zi5wCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-q37FjwSlLTI%2FV673epMMPpI%2FAAAAAAAAbh0%2FSSI0OUcSYjAGxA8-QCkP6L-36_az6zi5wCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya348.2198-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i6144!8i3072

Here are some more scenes, not far from the city center. Moslem countries vary in strictness regarding the prohibition of alcohol. Notice the bar that serves alcohol in Algiers. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.7764713,3.0511675,3a,75y,350h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-W1la2nAfnE4%2FVDD8gzlzKpI%2FAAAAAAAAR-g%2F5gVHv8XEcLQvDgi7KpHTsYsT4bTVRorUwCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-W1la2nAfnE4%2FVDD8gzlzKpI%2FAAAAAAAAR-g%2F5gVHv8XEcLQvDgi7KpHTsYsT4bTVRorUwCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya57.70368-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i10000!8i5000

Here is another part of town, away from the city center, known as Kouba.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.7356945,3.0911659,3a,75y,80h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPvW5G5m5nzwF59xIf8YXEtjyou1EPUWYb_ZKMM!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPvW5G5m5nzwF59xIf8YXEtjyou1EPUWYb_ZKMM%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya86.000015-ro-0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

The most visible landmark in Algiers is the Martyrs' Memorial. It looks like an Algerian version of the Eiffel Tower, but is actually three concrete palm leaves honoring those killed in Algeria's struggle for independence against French rule. This is thus an ideal symbol of Algeria's complex relationship with France, just across the Mediterranean. Image from Google Street View.


Finally, here is another symbol of the relationship between France and Algeria. This is the Basilica Notre Dame D'Afrique, built by European settlers, and named for Notre Dame in Paris, but built in a very Moorish or north African style.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.8011744,3.0428766,3a,75y,266.78h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMIsmH1eP-ls6oUnGvBVbHqkOkPDZ_nsep_DgPt!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMIsmH1eP-ls6oUnGvBVbHqkOkPDZ_nsep_DgPt%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya287.984-ro-0-fo100!7i11264!8i5632
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