Thursday, July 10, 2025

Introduction To This Blog System

                                                                                                                                                      

Image used by permission

This is my main blog and all new postings are made here. 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.

Blogs are organized to be read from top to bottom like a book. There is a list of the postings on each blog to the right of the blog, but you have to click on the months shown. Please use this listing to verify that you have seen all of the postings on the blog. The usual pace of this blog is 1-3 new postings per week.
 
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 the title of a posting has an asterisk* after it, that means that the posting has already been moved to it's permanent position and will later be deleted from here.
 
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 "About This Blog". 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".   

Pyongyang

With North Korea in the news so much, why not visit it's capital city? Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River. Most of the buildings look modern, but it is actually one of the oldest cities in the world.

The U.S. heavily bombed Pyongyang in 1950. U.S. and South Korean forces then temporarily captured Pyongyang. Much of the city today is what was rebuilt after bombing during the Korean War of 1950-53.

To understand North Korea, and it's capital city, we must first understand the Kim family. The supreme leader of the country after it regained independence with the end of the Second World War, in 1945, was Kim Il-Sung. His photo and statue are all over the country. The entire country used to wear medals, with his photograph on them, every day.

Here is an example of a badge featuring Kim Il-Sung. Notice the symbol in the upper left of the badge. That is the symbol of the Workers Party of Korea. But, unlike the traditional "hammer and sickle" symbol of Communism, representing industry and agriculture, there is a third element in the middle. This third element is a pen, representing the importance of intellectuals in North Korean Communism. The following image is from the Wikipedia article "Kim Il-Sung And Kim Jong-Il Badges".


After the death of Kim Il-Sung, in 1994, his son, Kim Jong-Il, became supreme leader. Two images from the Wikipedia article "Kim Jong-Il".



The present supreme leader of North Korea is the son of Kim Jong-Il, who died in 2011, and the grandson of Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Un.

The Geumsusan (also spelled Kumsusan) Palace was where Kim Il-Sung reigned from. It is now a mausoleum of him and his successor and son, Kim Jong-Il who died in 2011, and a museum of their lives.

Over a century ago, Pyongyang was a very Christian city, and notice how the devotion to the Kim Dynasty since the end of the Second World War is a lot like a religion. Especially notice how the following statue in the mausoleum looks like something that might be seen in a Catholic church. The following image is from the Wikipedia article "Kumsusan Palace of the Sun". 




Since most of what is seen in Pyongyang today is what was rebuilt relatively recently, after the Korean War, I decided to conduct our visit simply by geography, rather than by history. Let's start at the northern end of Pyongyang, and proceed southward.

This is Kim Il-Sung University. 

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 hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0584603,125.7679701,3a,75y,181h,76t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-B05UrtpTvz0%2FVay0SkYxsLI%2FAAAAAAAAaM4%2FmFf6LyZD6S8mlmKyZCTghqoCn76f6gQegCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-B05UrtpTvz0%2FVay0SkYxsLI%2FAAAAAAAAaM4%2FmFf6LyZD6S8mlmKyZCTghqoCn76f6gQegCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-14.999992-ya1.4999915-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i5656!8i2828

Close to the Mausoleum and University of Kim Il-Sung is the May Day Stadium, remember that the first day of May is a holiday for Communists and Socialists. Remember also that the symbol of North Korean communism has the pen of the intellectual included with the hammer and sickle.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0496636,125.7742543,3a,75y,79h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-WCmlB2Ix-rE%2FVUcq86kFDFI%2FAAAAAAAAXJI%2F7JxTlUx9nuwnErrFnORSlQik1ofnwsz5ACJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-WCmlB2Ix-rE%2FVUcq86kFDFI%2FAAAAAAAAXJI%2F7JxTlUx9nuwnErrFnORSlQik1ofnwsz5ACJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya79.5-ro0-fo100%2F!7i2508!8i1254

Moving southward through the city, we come to the Arch of Triumph. This is actually a little bit larger then the one in Paris, and remembers the end of occupation by Japan in 1945. The arch is located close to the Kim Il-Sung Stadium of Ideals. The first of the following images is from the Wikipedia article "Arch of Triumph" and the second is from Google Street View.



This image, from Google Street View, is of Kim Il-Sung Stadium.


Two structures that will often be seen in the background in photos of Pyongyang is first, the Pyongyang Television Tower, which has an observation deck and revolving restaurant. Image from the Wikipedia article "Pyongyang TV Tower".


And second, the Ryugyong Hotel. This is the structure that is over 100 stories tall and shaped like a sharp pyramid. It was begun in the 1980s, but reports are that economics has prevented it from being completed. Image from the Wikipedia article "Ryugyong Hotel".


In 1968, fifteen years after the Korean War had ended, the North Koreans managed to capture a U.S. Navy intelligence-gathering ship, the U.S.S. Pueblo. The crew was eventually released, but the ship was kept as a war trophy and is now at anchor in Pyongyang, next to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. The following scenes begin on board the Pueblo. The first four images, from Google Street View, are of the inside of the Pueblo.





Nearby is the legislative building, the Supreme People's Assembly. The large building at the top of the hill is the Korean Revolution Museum. One scene, with the statue of Kim Il-Sung holding his arm aloft, is incorrectly labeled as being in Kim Il-Sung Square, although the square is not very far away.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.032644,125.7538602,3a,75y,67.43h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-oJFtncp-EyQ%2FWPCd8WU1glI%2FAAAAAAAAPCY%2FRJZkvBtdtKkGKFdQjJdFyURWeQIxSozwQCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-oJFtncp-EyQ%2FWPCd8WU1glI%2FAAAAAAAAPCY%2FRJZkvBtdtKkGKFdQjJdFyURWeQIxSozwQCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya158.84486-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

On the east bank of the Taedong River is the Ideals of the North Korean Workers' Party Monument. Remember, again, that the North Korean symbol for Communism has the pen of the intellectual added to the hammer and sickle. The first following image is from Google Street View, the second is from the Wikipedia article "Monument To Party Founding". 



A prominent landmark in central Pyongyang is the Juche Tower. The principle of Juche means "self-reliance". The first of the following images is from the Wikipedia article "Juche Tower", and the second is from Google Street View. 



Across the Taedong River from the Juche Tower is Kim Il-Sung Square. The building with the green roof is a library, the Grand People's Study House. Government buildings are around Kim Il-Sung Square. The following image, from Google Street View, is looking back across the river at the Juche Tower.


In these two images, from Google Street View, the Grand People's Study House is shown from close up and from across the river. 



https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0194608,125.7535511,3a,75y,61.16h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-7kUI7sA_avc%2FVcs1bzIh3oI%2FAAAAAAAAaU0%2FAdNQ_h5TylQRANf4aXLaWMYfdSZQWlVBQCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-7kUI7sA_avc%2FVcs1bzIh3oI%2FAAAAAAAAaU0%2FAdNQ_h5TylQRANf4aXLaWMYfdSZQWlVBQCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya234.67354-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i5656!8i2828

Other than a few government offices, North Koreans cannot access the outside internet. A special intranet, with several thousand web sites, has been set up for the people by the government. Here is a computer room in the Grand People's Study House. This image is from the Wikipedia article "Grand People's Study House". 


You may notice that there are not many cars in Pyongyang. But it is known for it's very efficient metro system. The following scenes begin in the subway, in Yonggwan Station. As you might expect, there are murals of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. The first two images are of murals in the station. The people are following the leadership of Kim Il-Sung to build a glorious socialist paradise.




https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0150375,125.6577911,3a,75y,72.73h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-e4oe3Q372Ps%2FWOJpBTygJ8I%2FAAAAAAAAAnw%2FV6BLmHV1JsYZaeOteqmn2LzvV0-BQGFtACLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-e4oe3Q372Ps%2FWOJpBTygJ8I%2FAAAAAAAAAnw%2FV6BLmHV1JsYZaeOteqmn2LzvV0-BQGFtACLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya313.18695-ro0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

In the south of Pyongyang, there is the Science and Technology Center. The entire museum is shaped like an atom.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9883003,125.7139816,3a,75y,316h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-OmVDMDyzOfg%2FWOJnlNABJTI%2FAAAAAAAAAnk%2FXQoxnFipvVELRDILunbYUIqdqw1TzVsWgCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-OmVDMDyzOfg%2FWOJnlNABJTI%2FAAAAAAAAAnk%2FXQoxnFipvVELRDILunbYUIqdqw1TzVsWgCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya115.500015-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

Finally, in the southern part of Pyongyang is the Reunification Arch. Kim Il-Sung had plans to bring North and South Korea back together. Image from the Wikipedia article "Arch of Reunification".


The following eight images, from Google Street View, are a general look at life and buildings around Pyongyang.









Israeli Operation Against Iran

This has got to be reposted once more.

How about some historical background to the recent Israeli offensive against Iran? It's history actually goes back to ancient times. 

Remember that Babylon destroyed the First Temple of the Jews, and took them away into captivity. The Persians later conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return home, where they built the Second Temple. But the captivity in Babylon hadn't been really a bad time. It was nothing like the earlier slavery in Egypt. Many Jews were doing quite well and chose to stay in Babylon. They played a role in Jewish history until modern times.

Persia is actually an exonym and the official name of the country is Iran. This conquest of Babylon was near the beginning of the Persian Monarchy that would last 2,500 years. It was finally overthrown in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The revolutionaries that overthrew the final Shah are the ones that govern Iran now.

Notice the name of the Israeli Offensive, "Operation Rising Lion". The Iranian flag before the revolution featured the symbol of the lion, the sun and, the sword. Image from the Wikipedia article "Flag of Iran".


The news reports were that Israel's ultimate goal was "regime change" in Iran. Donald Trump reportedly asked the Israelis not to kill the Iranian Supreme Leader. I am not sure if the Israelis were consciously thinking of this but historic forces were at work and they would naturally not only want to eliminate the present hostile government in Iran but also bring back the monarchy that once rescued them from Babylon. 

The Persian conquest of Babylon revolved around getting inside the walls, as Babylon was a walled city. While a drunken royal party was going on the Persians managed to partially dam the Euphrates River in order to get inside the city. This history was repeated when the U.S. assisted Israel by bombing Iranian underground nuclear sites with depth-penetrating bombs. In ancient times, the issue was getting inside the protection of the walls. In modern times the issue was getting through the protection of the underground bunker.

What about the Israeli missile that struck an Iranian state television studio during a live broadcast? The night that Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians is described in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 5. This is a description of the "writing on the wall" that appeared during the royal party. It informed the Babylonians that their time was up and their kingdom was being given to the Medes and Persians. The Babylonians had disrespected God by bringing in the sacred vessels that had been looted from the Temple in Jerusalem and used them as drinking cups. The missile was a modern version of the "writing on the wall".

The Persians were originally a vassal state of the Medes. But the Persians rose up and turned the tables, so that they were now the dominant ones. This was the beginning of the Persian Empire, that would last 2,500 years until 1979. The conquest of Babylon freed the Jews that were being held captive there. They returned to the ruins of Jerusalem and built the Second Temple, but some of the Jews chose to stay. 

The Israeli attack on Iran reenacted the "writing on the wall", in the form of the missile strike on the live broadcast. This was effectively in support of the Persian Monarchy that had freed the Jews from captivity in Babylon but had much later, in 1979, been overthrown by this hostile revolutionary government that was now ruling Iran.

We also see this "getting inside the walls" element in the Israeli bombing of Tehran's infamous Evin Prison. The release of prisoners, which were believed to include political prisoners, was a definite gesture toward regime change.

The Pahlavi Dynasty was the final dynasty in the 2,500-year-old monarchy. Here is a link to "Remembering The Pahlavi Dynasty":

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2017/10/remembering-pahlavi-dynasty.html?m=0

ISRAEL'S ENTEBBE RAID

There is another historical event that might be a factor in this week's Israeli action against Iran. Israel's first major operation like this, involving a distant country, was the hostage rescue at Entebbe.

In late June, 1976, an Air France jet was hijacked by the Popular Front For The Liberation of Palestine. The passengers and crew would be freed in exchange for a list of prisoners being held in Israeli jails. Idi Amin, the President of Uganda who had previously been a supporter of Israel, surprised everyone by welcoming the plane to Entebbe Airport, just south of Kampala. Entebbe would soon become probably the most famous airport in the world.

The majority of the hostages were freed but more than a hundred, who had a connection to Israel or who declined to be released, were held in a building at the airport. The hijackers included two German leftists, and Idi Amin personally visited them.

In a sudden operation, on July 4 while America was celebrating it's bicentennial, Israel dispatched about 100 commandos aboard planes which landed at the airport at night. Two of the hostages were killed in error, being mistaken for hijackers, but the rescue operation was a success. Part of the operation included a black Mercedes similar to the one used by Idi Amin.

The only Israeli commando killed in the mission happened to be the brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel. Maybe that is a factor in the recent Israeli operation.

There were a lot of repercussions to the raid. The president of neighboring Kenya had allowed the Israeli planes to refuel at Nairobi. Idi Amin retaliated by having more than two hundred Kenyans who were living in Uganda killed. That is the side of Entebbe that is not well-known.

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 

Another precedent is, of course, the "regime change" in Iraq, following the 2003 invasion, due to Saddam Hussein allegedly possessing "weapons of mass destruction".

Apocalyptic Development

During a recent state visit to Britain, Emmanuel Macron announced that France and Britain will "save" Europe. The two countries plan to coordinate their nuclear arsenals. This is a step toward Europe as a united power as we saw in "The End Of The World As We Know It".

Remembering The Vela Incident

With all that is going on in the Middle East, why don't we review the Vela Incident. There is an explanation for the Vela Incident that I cannot see has ever been presented.

In the late 1970s efforts were being made to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and testing. U.S. President Jimmy Carter promoted a treaty signed by many nations limiting nuclear testing. A system of satellites was put in orbit that could detect nuclear tests. The primary reason behind nuclear tests is not to verify that the weapons work but to miniaturize and improve them.

On September 22, 1979, a brilliant flash was detected in the southern ocean, about halfway between South Africa and Antarctica, that was consistent with a nuclear test. No nation had announced that it would be testing in that area and no one claimed responsibility for a test. The U.S. investigated but found a lack of the radioactivity that can usually be detected after a nuclear test.

There was actually a window of opportunity to conduct a test in this location when none of the VELA satellites would be able to detect it, and it seems clear that whichever power conducted the test knew this. But as it turned out there was an officially retired satellite that was still collecting data, and that was the one that detected the flash. (Source-Wikipedia)

It was a minor nuclear explosion, only a few kilotons. Most nuclear tests, by nations other than the superpowers, are done openly so that the world knows that this nation has the bomb. It soon became the presumption that this had been a joint nuclear test between South Africa and Israel, which were close allies at the time.

It is true that Israel has nowhere to safety conduct a nuclear test in it's own neighborhood, and keeping a nuclear detonation a secret there would be absolutely impossible. But Israel is widely believed to have possessed nuclear technology since the 1950s, why did it suddenly decide to conduct a test in 1979, and why was it so important to keep it a secret when non-superpower nuclear powers inevitably want everyone to know that they have the bomb?

1979 was, of course, when the Iranian Revolution happened. Israel had been in the 1967 Six-Day War with neighboring countries. Six years later, in 1973, there was the Yom Kippur War. In 1979 it was six years after that and it might have seemed about time for another war.

We read a lot about the hostility between Iran and Israel today, but that was not true at the time of this nuclear test. The Iranian Revolution was far from complete. That Ayatollah Khomeini would consolidate his power over Iran was by no means certain. There was other facets to the revolution such as the Communists. It was not even certain at the time that the exiled Shah wouldn't be able to return to power someday.

At the time of this nuclear test the world had a "wait-and-see" attitude toward the Iranian Revolution. No one knew exactly how it would turn out and the test took place six weeks before revolutionaries seized the staff of the U.S. Embassy as hostages. Israel had been in plenty of danger before without, as is known for certain, testing a nuclear bomb.

There has been a Jewish community in Iran ever since the Persian Empire conquered Babylon and freed the Jews that the Babylonians had taken captive. Ayatollah Khomeini actually met with members of the Jewish community and praised Moses. Israel clandestinely supported Iran in it's war with Iraq during the 1980s. Iranian hostility against Jews and Israel would come later, but that would be well after the time of this nuclear test. 

If Israel conducted such a test today we might presume that it was in preparation for a conflict with Iran or Hezbollah, which is an Iranian ally that has engaged in a lot of conflict with Israel. But this was years before Hezbollah was formed.

It thus makes no sense that the Iranian Revolution was the reason for this nuclear test.

Another major event occurred in 1979, although it got a lot less attention than the Iranian Revolution. It took place closer to Israel. What happened is that Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq. Although he had already been the real power in the country for several years he officially took power on July 16.

Iraq had been in three wars with Israel, in 1948, 1967 and, 1973. It had a minor role in the 1967 war but a much larger role in 1973.

Upon taking uncontested power in Iraq Saddam Hussein immediately showed how radical he was. Saddam presided over a purge of his own political party, in which dozens were executed. Iraq maintained a large army with many Soviet-made tanks.

There was a Syrian and an Iraqi branch of Saddam's Baath Party. The purge was against those who favored a union between the two countries, as Saddam split from the Syrian branch. The father of the present embattled president of Syria, Bashar Assad, was an arch-rival of Saddam Hussein, and supported Iran in it's war with Iraq. This alliance continued thirty years later when Hezbollah, Iran's ally in Lebanon, helped Bashar Assad during Syria's civil war. After Hezbollah was damaged by conflict with Israel, and so unable to help Assad, he didn't last long against an uprising.

This purge took place in July of 1979, the nuclear test came on September 22.

Due to the apparent low yield of the nuclear test, and the lack of radioactivity detected afterward, it has been suggested that it was a test of a neutron bomb. A neutron bomb was a tactical, rather than a strategic, nuclear weapon that was designed for use on the battlefield, rather than against a city. 

As the name implies a neutron bomb strikes by unleashing a deadly burst of neutrons, rather than by the force of an explosion. This was believed to be especially useful against tanks, since neutrons can penetrate thick armor.

Just as neutrons hold the nucleus of an atom together, against the mutual repulsion of the positively-charged protons, so a neutron must also be held together by being part of a nucleus. A neutron by itself will break down into a proton and an electron, in an average of about fifteen minutes. But neutrons, propelled at high speed, last long enough to do their damage in neutron bombs, or to bring about nuclear fission.

Saddam Hussein would turn his aggressive designs to the east, against neighbor Iran. Seeing Iraq's traditional rival cut off from it's major ally, the U.S., and certainly worried that Iran's revolution would incite his own majority Shiite population, Saddam launched a military offensive against Iran, after months of sporadic border clashes and apparently hoping that Iran's oil-rich and Arab-majority Khuzestan province would rise up and join him.

Consider the tank force that Saddam Hussein sent against Iran in 1980. This is what the Israeli defense establishment was thinking about having to confront, after Saddam officially became president of Iraq, and the reason for the neutron bomb test because neutron bombs were developed for use against tanks.

In 1981, while Iraq and Iran were at war, Israel surprised the world by launching an air raid that destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. In 1990, during the First Gulf War, Iraq rained Scud missiles on Israel, hoping to provoke Israel to enter the conflict.

(Note-We have seen this Israeli air raid on Osirak in the posting, "The Real Story Of Osirak", June 2025. My belief is that the raid was also a warning to Iran, although Israel certainly considered Iraq as the greater threat. Iran had earlier bombed this Iraqi reactor but had not succeeded in seriously damaging it. Iran had pulled off one of the most brilliant aerial operations in history, ironically using American planes, in an attack on airfields far on the other side of Iraq, known as H3, but that showed Iran to certainly be capable of striking Israel).

Look how closely similar the reaction times are. It was 64 days from when Iran conducted the aerial mission against H3 to when Israel conducted their aerial mission against Osirak. It had been 68 days from when Saddam Hussein officially took power in Iraq to this nuclear test in the southern ocean.

Ironically Saddam's tank offensive that was the beginning of full-scale war between Iraq and Iran began on September 22, 1980, exactly one year after the nuclear test.


One good thing to emerge from the satellite program to detect nuclear testing is that it discovered the Gamma Ray Bursts that were taking place in space. Gamma Ray Bursts are the most powerful explosions known, far more powerful than a supernova. An average of about one Gamma Ray Burst per day seems to take place somewhere in the universe. My cosmology theory explains Gamma Ray Bursts but I won't get into it here.

The Role Of Art, Music, Games And, Sports

The role of those human endeavors that are not the "real world", particularly art, music, games and, sports, is they transmit patterns while allowing us the chance to work out the complexity that is then applied to the "real world". It is much like how children's games work out how the "real world" actually works.

Meanwhile, art and music is pleasing to us because we are more complex than our inanimate surroundings and is a reflection to us of our own higher level of complexity. Art and music can be defined as a form of mathematical expression using graphics or sound, in that the position of every element is defined relative to every other element. Again, we are imposing our higher level of complexity on our inanimate surroundings.

Before we had the complex modern technology, science and, society that came with the Renaissance, we had to work out and learn to use that complexity through art. Realist painting and sculpture had to come before modern design. As for the operation of modern society, we had to produce complex paintings, with all of the many parts "working together" to convey the meaning of the painting, before we could produce the "real world" constitutions that govern how society operates.

We certainly could not have the complex circuit boards in modern electronic devices without first working out the complexity in painting. Every part of the circuit must support all of the other parts, just as in the painting.

Surrealistic, or non-realistic, artwork gets us thinking outside of our vision, or "outside the box", and this gets us in the frame of mind to invent, to come up with new ideas, and to discover things that we cannot see with our vision alone.

Many early paintings and sculptures involved great anatomical detail. We had to become intimately familiar with anatomy through art before we could effectively apply it to medicine. In the same way we had to master rendering buildings, and their spatial relationship to each other, before we could have modern architecture.

Likewise the rhythm of poetry, and of music, is reflected in the rhythm of machines. Have you ever noticed the similarity between a song and the operation of an internal combustion engine? 

The musical instruments, percussion, string, wind and, singing, work together in exactly the same way as the several systems of the engine. A song is usually led by a singer just as the thrust-generating system is the primary system of the engine. This is supported by the cooling, lubrication and, charging systems in exactly the same way that the musical instruments support the singer.

The engine's valves have to open, and spark plugs have to fire, according to a rhythm that is identical to that of a song. We definitely could not have had cars without music. We had to work out the complexity of the engine in songs first.

Any machine with moving parts, the gears in a clock for example, must work together like "clockwork", but this precise rhythm is just like that of a song and it was through music that we worked out the complexity that made machines with many moving parts possible.

Sports is where we work out the complexity and strategy involved when there is opposition to what we are trying to do. Ball games against a similar team in a different uniform have always been used as preparation for, and to work out the patterns of, warfare. On another level, games like chess have been used to work out the strategies that might be involved in war, just as card games allow the working out of strategies that might be applicable to either war or business in peacetime.

As always, as the old saying goes, "Art imitates life imitates art". We are at a higher level of complexity than our inanimate surroundings and it is where we can master and work out that complexity before applying it to the "real world". That is the purpose of art, music, games and, sports.

Would you like to read my story about imaginary space aliens who came to earth several times but never saw a human being However they found examples of human technology and, knowing that humans must replicate their own patterns in their technology, pieced together what humans must look like.

http://markmeekpatterns.blogspot.com/2009/07/reverse-archeology.html?m=0


Toronto's Billionaire Murder Mystery

The mysterious murder of the billionaire couple in Toronto still hasn't been solved. This is what I think happened. All that I know about this is what I have read in the news.

Barry and Honey Sherman were murdered together at home in Toronto, after 9 P.M., December 13, 2017. The murder was completely bizarre. They had both been strangled and were seated, and supported by belts, on a railing by their basement swimming pool. The underwater lights in the pool were found on. All other lights in the house were off. There was no sign that the house had been burglarized or that anything had been stolen.

The first theory was that it was a murder-suicide. But no one around them had seen significant tension in their marriage, and they had all kinds of upcoming plans and travels. Barry was 75 years old and not in particularly good health. It seemed physically impossible that he could have done this to his wife, and then to himself. A murder-suicide would have been much simpler and easier with a gun.

The next theory was, of course, that the murder had to do with their wealth. Whenever a wealthy person is murdered the first suspects are anyone who had anything to gain from it. Their children had money of their own. Anyway, Barry Sherman was 75 years old and it just wouldn't make sense for anyone who was set to inherit his wealth to kill him. He would die someday anyway.

The next theory after that was any enemies that they may have had. Despite their philanthropy not everyone liked Barry and Honey Sherman. The pharmaceutical industry is litigious. Corporate rivalries, lawsuits and possible family feuds were investigated. But nothing at all came out of it that would provide a suspect in their murders.

At the time of the murders the Shermans were trying to sell their home. It was not because of financial difficulties, they were planning to build an even more extravagant home. While Barry and Honey were working at their company a realtor was showing potential buyers around the house. There had been quite a few showings but Barry Sherman had expressed disappointment with the amounts offered.

On the night of the murder, December 13, 2017, Barry Sherman, who reportedly usually stayed at the company until 11 P.M., was home by 9. Honey also arrived early at home separately. In the usually busy house there was nothing going on, and no-one else around that night.

Barry Sherman was a hard-driving and penny-pinching businessman. In the real estate industry a realtor gets a significant cut of the sale price as a commission. It is not unheard of for a potential buyer who has been shown the house to secretly contact the homeowner to make a deal, leaving out the realtor. It is not allowed but it does happen.

Could Barry and Honey have uncharacteristically gone home early, on the night that they would be murdered with no one else around, because they were doing something that they didn't want anyone to know about?

The evidence is that they were surprised when they separately entered the house. The killers were inside waiting for them. The alarm system had been turned off. The killers were clearly familiar with the house.

If the killers weren't already inside they could have been hiding by the door. But that would take the risk of being seen and they were more likely already inside.

What I find very interesting is that, when Barry Sherman was surprised by the killers at his door, he dropped some paperwork that was found later, as well as his winter gloves. The paperwork was a copy of the real estate appraisal on the value of the home.

Why would they be coming home uncharacteristically early, also uncharacteristically with no one else around, and bringing a copy of the real estate appraisal with him, when his real estate dealings had always taken place in his office at his company?

Could it be that someone who had been shown the home had secretly contacted him about making a deal, without the realtor? The real motive was to murder them. That would explain how the killers were obviously familiar with the house. While in the house with the realtor they may have managed to shut off the alarm system and set up a way to enter later.

Just a thought-while they were being shown the house someone working with the killers could have called the realtor and distracted her for several minutes while one of the killers shut off the alarm system and set up some way to enter later.

It is virtually certain that there was more than one killer in the house. That is where the anonymous but famous "Walking Man" comes in, walking with the unusual gait of kicking up his right foot as he walks. He was captured by home security cameras walking quickly along the sidewalk right around the time that Barry Sherman arrived home.

He was probably working with the killers but wasn't there when the killings took place. This was done to make the police think that it was a single killer. The gait is completely faked and done because artificial intelligence can recognize a person by the way they walk.

Another false clue, just in case the "Walking Man" didn't get noticed was a man who was captured by a security camera at the house across the street from the Sherman home. On the day of the murders, earlier in the day, this man parked in front of the Sherman home and, apparently when no one was home, walked to the house and back to his car three separate times, before driving away.

I would look carefully at all the people who were shown the home by the realtor.

The murders were done for some bizarre reason that makes no sense to anyone but the killers. Clearly they wanted the bodies to be found. Nothing was apparently stolen and no one seemed to gain anything from it. Both kept somewhat regular schedules and it would have been far easier to shoot or abduct them elsewhere. 

A quick Google search would have told the killers that the couple had business rivalries, had been involved in lawsuits, and had potential enemies. Not to mention family members that would inherit their wealth. This would shield the killers from suspicion since they didn't seem to gain anything material from the murders.


Thursday, July 3, 2025

Seoul

Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. It is a very old city, founded at about the time of Jesus. Seoul is known today for the speed of it's internet service. It's airport is also one of the most highly-rated in the world. Seoul-based companies that we are familiar with today are Samsung, Kia and, Hyundai.

Korea was long divided into three kingdoms, Baekje, Silla and, Goguryeo. Seoul was in Baekje, Goguryeo was what is now North Korea and part of Manchuria.

There are five royal palaces in Seoul. These are from the Joseon Dynasty which lasted about five hundred years, until the end of the Nineteenth Century. Much else remains from the Joseon Dynasty, such as city gates and some remains of the surrounding wall. The Joseon Dynasty was preceded by the Goryeo Dynasty, which lasted for about the same amount of time.

The Joseon Dynasty was known for being very Confucian. Confucius was Chinese, but was revered in Korea even more than in China. Buddhists and Christians were persecuted but today the world's largest church, by attendance, is in Seoul. The Joseon Dynasty were contemporaries of the Tokugawa Shogunate, that we saw in our visits to Japan. In particular, South Korea is now the world's center of the Presbyterian denomination.

Gyeongbokgung is usually considered as the most important of the five imperial palaces in Seoul, from the Joseon Dynasty. The first three images are from Google Street View.




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

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5789036,126.9770156,3a,75y,83.6h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGzPwKn5LKglGBAEJxrppRg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGzPwKn5LKglGBAEJxrppRg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D81.94539%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The Blue House, where the South Korean president lives, is near the Gyeongbokgung Palace. These two images of the Blue House are from Google Street View. 



Another important site of the Joseon Dynasty is the Hwaseong Fortress, to the south of Seoul. The first two images are from Google Street View.




Now that we have seen some of Seoul's long history, let's have a look at the modern city from the top of the North Seoul Tower. The first two images of the tower are from Google Street View.






https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5138009,127.1042814,3a,75y,275.05h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sA0t_4zpVX7Za57zyiOTy-w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DA0t_4zpVX7Za57zyiOTy-w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D276.36295%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

The following scenes begin outside Myeongdong Cathedral, the Catholic cathedral in the central city. It can be seen in the satellite imagery that many tall buildings in Seoul have heliports on the roof. The first four images of the cathedral, and surrounding area, are from Google Street View.






https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5176659,126.9034348,3a,75y,54.77h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-88usAF8ZtQc%2FVrk--bB9VKI%2FAAAAAAAAOaY%2Fz7fv_vnwcm0dFckcePru9iv4JtGrZZQ4wCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-88usAF8ZtQc%2FVrk--bB9VKI%2FAAAAAAAAOaY%2Fz7fv_vnwcm0dFckcePru9iv4JtGrZZQ4wCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-6.5808396-ya182.93826-ro-3.1456535-fo100%2F!7i5376!8i2688

This is the Coex Mall, and the surrounding area. The Bonguensa, a very old Buddhist temple, is located nearby, showing how Seoul is the old and the new next door to one another.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5115807,127.0592672,2a,75y,210.14h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sybNHYWMjyLtNj8j09AmsFg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DybNHYWMjyLtNj8j09AmsFg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D204.72699%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 

This is in the northernmost part of Seoul.


Here is a residential and business area to the southwest of the city.