Thursday, October 15, 2026

Introduction To This Blog System

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Image used by permission

Posting is usually done once a week, on Thursday.

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

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

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

Other Blogs And Books

                                                                                                                                                                         

Lights at night 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sri Lanka

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALL IMAGES ARE FROM GOOGLE EARTH OR STREET VIEW 









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

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

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





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



The Sri Lankan Parliament is on an artificial island.















A landmark and symbol of Colombo is the Lotus Tower.








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

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










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

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

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

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

This is Sri Lanka's tea-growing country.

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

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

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




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

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

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




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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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