Belgium's Georges Lemaitre

It was a Belgian priest who first came up with the idea of the Big Bang.

In the early Twentieth Century it was discovered first, that what were thought to be nebula within our galaxy were actually entirely different galaxies and second, that these galaxies were actually moving away from each other. The more distant the galaxies, the faster they seemed to be moving away from us.

What this meant was, not only was the universe much more vast than had been supposed but it was also expanding. Until then it had been thought that our galaxy encompassed the entire universe.

Working with the then-new telescope atop Mount Wilson, near Los Angeles, Edwin Hubble is generally given credit for discovering the expansion of the universe, which also points to the universe having the beginning that we refer to as the "Big Bang".

Hubble got the revolutionary space telescope, which has far and away exceeded all expectations, named for him.

But Hubble wasn't the first one to propose that the universe had a beginning and was expanding. At the time the scientific community accepted the "Steady State" concept of the universe, that it had always existed and didn't have a beginning. A Belgian priest, who was also a graduate in physics, thought of it first.

His name was Georges Lemaitre. Hubble did the actual observing that confirmed the universe was expanding outward, which definitely pointed to it having a beginning, and deserves credit for establishing that there are many galaxies other than our own. But even the Wikipedia article on Hubble states that Georges Lemaitre wrote about it first.

There was a lot of skepticism but it turned out to be correct. The beginning of the universe was named the "Big Bang", but that term was coined by Britain's Sir Fred Hoyle, who was making fun of the idea. But today it is virtually universally accepted as the beginning of the universe.

Georges Lemaitre deserves more credit and name recognition. His native language was French. Does the Francophone community know that it was one of their own who correctly postulated that the universe had a beginning? I think he is already appreciated in Belgium, but not as much in the outside world.

How about the Catholic Church? We cannot say that this insight was a miracle but it verifies the biblical theology that the universe was created at a certain point by God. The universe had not always been there, as the scientific community had believed. 

I once visited the Mount Wilson Observatory, above Los Angeles. This is where it was discovered that there are many galaxies, other than our own, and confirmed that the universe is expanding outward which means that it had a beginning.

PROOF OF THE BIG BANG 

Most scientists agree that the universe began with what is referred to as the "Big Bang". Scientists didn't arrive at the Big Bang, it was actually introduced by the Belgian Catholic priest, Georges Lemaitre, based on the Christian idea of the beginning, but is now very widely accepted in the scientific community. Before the Big Bang there was the "Steady State" Theory of the universe.

However there have always been a few doubters and doubt about the Big Bang still persists. For some reason my native Britain has been a haven for Big Bang doubters. The name of the "Big Bang" was actually coined by Sir Fred Hoyle, who was making fun of the idea.

I find that we do not even have to go beyond the earth to prove that there must have been a Big Bang. We can see it just by tracing where energy comes from. There are only three ultimate sources of energy on earth, the sun, the supernova that preceded the sun, and the Big Bang.

Solar energy, from the sun, is all around us. The sun makes plants grow so all of our food and hydrocarbon fuel is from solar energy. The uneven heating of the earth by the sun creates wind energy. The sun evaporates water and, if it falls as precipitation to a higher level, it gives us hydroelectric power. 

The sun was preceded by a large star that exploded in a supernova. Some of the matter fell back together by gravity to form the present sun and Solar System. We know that the sun is such a second-generation star because it contains heavy elements that are beyond it's current stage in the stellar fusion process.

Tides can be harnessed and used to generate electricity. Tides also move boats, and other floating objects, which takes energy. Tidal energy does not come from the sun. The supernova threw the matter that formed the earth and moon out into space and tidal energy is a redirection of that, it comes from the supernova.

The ordinary stellar fusion process only goes as far as iron. Elements heavier than iron are put together from lighter atoms only when energy is released by a supernova. It takes this tremendous energy to crunch the smaller atoms together.

Some of these new heavy atoms are less-than-stable and gradually release particles or radiation in order to seek a more stable state. These emissions are known as radioactivity. This also releases heat, which builds up from radioactive decay inside the earth. Geothermal heat, some of which may also be directly left over from the supernova, is thus supernova energy. This includes the energy released by volcanoes.

Some of the heavy atoms that are crunched together from smaller atoms only during the tremendous release of energy by a supernova can be split by a high-speed neutron. These are thorium, the 235 isotope of uranium, and man-made plutonium. When this happens some of the binding energy of the nucleus of the atom is released. This is the basis of nuclear fission energy and so the energy from nuclear reactors and conventional nuclear bombs ultimately comes from the supernova that preceded the sun.

During the ice ages vast sheets of ice form at high latitudes. The centrifugal force of the earth's rotation pulls the ice sheets in the direction of the equator. These moving glaciers greatly change the landscape. This energy comes ultimately from the supernova. If there is a landslide the kinetic energy in the falling rocks is from the supernova.

But there is one energy source that cannot be accounted for by energy from either the sun or the supernova. That source is nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission, the splitting of a heavy atom, is the opposite process. As the name implies nuclear fusion is the fusing of two or more small atoms together into a larger atom. The new larger atom contains less overall internal energy than the smaller atoms that were fused together to form it. The excess energy is released and that is why fusion is a source of energy.

Natural fusion takes place in the centers of stars. The gravity there is strong enough to overcome the electron repulsion between atoms and fuse lighter atoms into heavier ones. The excess energy is released as radiation, which is why stars shine. The current stage of fusion in the sun is crunching four hydrogen atoms into one helium atom, with the excess energy being released as sunshine.

Fusion of atoms can be done artificially, by pushing the atoms together with lasers or confining very high temperatures in a magnetic field. As with stars the excess energy is released when small atoms are fused into a larger one. There is a lot of hope for fusion as a future source of energy but, at the time of this writing, fusion is still at the experimental stage, no one has yet succeeded in making it into a practical source of energy.

We know from science class that energy can never be created or destroyed, but only changed in form. There are a number of ways that we get energy whose ultimate source is either the sun or the supernova that preceded the sun. The energy from the sun is not rooted in the supernova that preceded it because that star exploded before all of it's hydrogen atoms had fused into heavier atoms and then that process continued as some of the matter of the exploded star fell back together by gravity to form the sun and Solar System.

But neither of these sources can explain where the energy in nuclear fusion comes from. Since energy can never be created or destroyed, but only changed in form, it must have come from somewhere. Since it is the internal energy in all atoms, some of it being released when atoms fuse together, it must be from before the formation of atoms.

It's source can only be the Big Bang and it thus proves the reality of the Big Bang. Georges Lemaitre was right.

News This Week

MEDICAL EVACUATION IN SPACE 

The medical evacuation in space this week is reminiscent of the oxygen tank explosion on Apollo 13, and astronauts are going back far into space. To read about the Apollo Space Program, see the compound posting "The Moon", August 2023, section 5) The Apollo Space Program.

CANADA AND THE CARIBBEAN 

With all the talk of the U.S. acquiring Greenland, whatever happened to the Canadian plan to buy the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean? Then Canadians would have a warm place to go in the winter, and their money would stay in Canada. There was so much talk about it but it never got beyond the discussion stage.

THE EXERCISE PRESIDENT 

Yoweri Museveni is the recently reelected President of Uganda. He is setting a great example by remaining dedicated to his fitness program at age 81.

"THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS"

There was a short story from the 1950s called "There Will Come Soft Rains". I read it when I was in community college. It was set in the well-off future, August 2026. An automated house is continuing to do everything for the family that lives there, such as automatically cooking and cleaning, not realizing that there has been a nuclear holocaust and the family has been killed. Back then the story seemed to be far in the future but time flies and August 2026 is this year.

THE PRIME NUMBER FLAG 

With all the discussion in the U.S. about adding a 51st State, whether it be Canada or Greenland or Venezuela, there is one thing that we should really give some thought to. What about the flag? Each state is represented by a star on the flag. The thirteen red and white stripes represent the thirteen original states. Adding a new state will require replacing all flags, including those on signage and paperwork.

The next question is how to rearrange the stars on the flag to fit in another one. Until 1959, when Alaska and Hawaii were added, the flag with 48 stars looked like this. Two images from the Wikipedia article "Flag of the United States". 48 is fortunately divisible as 6 x 8.

Since Alaska and Hawaii were added, the flag looks like this. The solution was to alternate five rows of six stars with four rows of five stars.

51 is a prime number. So how do we fit in another star and keep a regular pattern? 

America has five inhabited territories. These are Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa, the Marianas Islands and, the Virgin Islands. Adding those to the flag would bring 56, which is 8 x 7. Maybe the territories could be represented by a circle, instead of a star.

The Islamic Republic Survives

The Islamic Republic of Iran has survived yet again. I followed the Iranian Revolution as it was going on and have seen it's fall wrongly foretold many times.

Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran, from a fifteen year exile, in February 1979. The July 16, 1979 issue of Time Magazine featured a profile of Khomeini and expressed doubt that this "philosopher king" could rule a modern country like Iran for long. They were wrong.

In September 1980, war began between Iran and neighboring Iraq. Iran is larger than Iraq but the general opinion seemed to be that the revolutionary government of Iran, still in the turmoil of the revolution and cut off from America as it's main ally, wouldn't survive the invasion of the Iraqi Army that had been well-supplied by the East Bloc. They were wrong.

In June of 1981 came the Haft e Tir Bombing. At a meeting of the Iranian Government, a massive bomb had been smuggled in. Dozens of the top members of the government were killed. It seemed very unlikely that the government would survive this, especially since Iraq was taking an early lead in the war, but it did.

The war with Iraq went on for eight years, with a horrific cost to Iran in lives, money and property. By 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini, who had been the driving force behind the revolution, was clearly in the final days of his life. There were opinions everywhere that the Islamic Revolution would die with Khomeini, but it didn't.

Since then, according to the Wikipedia article "Ali Khamenei" who had been the president under Khomeini and succeeded him as supreme leader, there have been eight major bouts of protests in the country. The massive protests that have just died down is only the most recent one. Each time observers have predicted that this is the beginning of the end for the Islamic Republic, and each time they have been wrong.

Crushing economic sanctions were placed on Iran but haven't succeeded in bringing down the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is battered and bruised and weakened but, as always, it is still standing.

Part of the issue is that secular people do not understand people who are driven by religion. The belief that God is on one's side, or that one is doing God's work, is a very powerful force. I find that so many people have a "nationality" way of thinking and just don't get religion. I have long thought that a religious Christian, a religious Moslem and, a religious Jew have a lot more in common with each other than any of them do with a non-religious person, even if they share the same secular culture and DNA.

Here is a link to "How Secularism Leads Us Astray".

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-secularism-leads-us-astray.html?m=0

The Second Leader Rule

Here is something that the revolutionary government of Iran has going for it. I wrote this in 2016, after the death of Fidel Castro. But Castro had long since stepped aside, from an actual leadership position, to make way for his brother. What makes it look like the government of Ali Khamenei is here to stay is simply that he is of much lower profile than his revolutionary predecessor, Ayatollah Khomeini.

I have a rule that gives us an idea of what to expect for Cuba, now that Fidel Castro is gone. The rule is called "The Second Leader Rule". A revolution is typically consolidated and led by a charismatic, high-profile leader. But some revolutions last, while others don't. I notice that the security of a revolution is revealed by the nature of it's second leader, the one that follows the typically charismatic and high-profile first leader.

If the revolution is secure, is here to stay, the second leader will be much more low-profile than the first leader. This means that the revolution has succeeded and has entered into an institutional phase, where the primary focus is now day-to-day administrative tasks. If the second leader is high-profile and charismatic, like the first leader, that is not a good sign. It means that the revolution has not yet completed the consolidation phase, and the revolution is not likely here to stay. My definition of revolution is an abrupt change in the social order.

Almost everyone knows who George Washington is. But he was followed by a successor of far lower profile, his vice-president John Adams. This represented a good sign for the American Revolution as it indicated that the consolidation phase had been successfully completed, and the revolution had moved into the institutional phase.

Ali Khamenei is the current Supreme Leader of Iran, the successor of Ayatollah Khomeini who died in 1989. Khamenei has inherited all of the power that comes with being Supreme Leader but, despite the similarity in their names, is of far lower profile than Khomeini was. The spell-checker on this blog doesn't even recognize his name.

But this is a good sign for the Iranian Revolution. One may approve or disapprove of it, the revolution may adjust it's tone or come to agreement with former opponents, but the succession to a lower-profile leader is a sign that it is here to stay. Khomeini was the revolutionary, and Khamenei is his successor as the administrator. That can only mean that the revolutionary phase was a success.

In China, we see another example of a high-profile revolutionary followed by an administrator of a much-lower profile. Chairman Mao was the revolutionary, and Deng Xiaoping the administrator. This means that so-called "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" is here to stay.

If Soviet Communism was meant to last, it would have followed this pattern also. Lenin, the initial leader and the revolutionary, would have been followed by a lower-profile administrative leader like Leonid Brezhnev. Instead Lenin was followed by Josef Stalin, who had a profile at least as high as Lenin. The fact that consolidation of the revolution had not been completed by it's first leader was not a good sign for it's future.

Nikita Khrushchev, the third leader, had a high profile too, although not as high as Lenin and Stalin. It took more than forty years, and three high-profile leaders, to settle into the administrative phase, with a lower-profile leader. Not much more than twenty years later, Soviet-style Communism entered a second revolutionary phase with another high-profile leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, but this phase never saw completion as it was the end of large-scale Communism.

North Korean Communism is another case in point. It had it's revolutionary leader in Kim Il Sung, with all of the personality cult that revolutionary leaders often have. But if his system was really secure, he would have been followed by a lower-profile administrative type of leader. Instead, his successor was his equally high-profile son Kim Jong Il, who in turn was followed by his equally high-profile son, the present leader Kim Jong Un.

All of this looks very good for the social order in Cuba. The revolutionary, Fidel Castro, being followed by his brother Raul, of much lower profile, means that the Cuban Revolution is here to stay. It is very reminiscent of George Washington being followed by John Adams.

Remember The Mongols

The world is disturbed by how brutally Iran came down on the recent protesters. But there is something that we have to remember, and that thing is history. It is so important because we tend to repeat it, sometimes intentionally but often without realizing it.

The area of western Asia and easternmost Europe might be a nice place in daily life but it has a history of harshly dealing with rebellions and uprisings. Aside from Iran, there was Saddam Hussein putting down rebellions against his rule in Iraq. In Syria, the Assad Dynasty bombed their own cities from the air. The Kurds are spread over areas of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and, Syria, but don't have a state of their own. All four countries have been harsh in dealing with uprisings by them.

In easternmost Europe there was the brutality of the consolidation of the rule of Josef Stalin, the brutality of the Eastern Front in the Second World War, and the current brutality of the war in Ukraine.

But there is a common factor in all of this, and that factor is the history of the Mongols. The Mongols once ruled this area and they were especially brutal with cities that resisted their rule. Saddam Hussein's capital of Baghdad was once possibly the most important city in the world, until it was destroyed by the Mongols. The Ottomans were one of the greatest empires ever, but early in their history lost the Battle of Ankara, which is now the capital of Turkey, to the Mongols. Damascus, the capital of Syria, was besieged by the Mongols. Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, was so devastated by the Mongols that it didn't regain it's importance until the Nineteenth Century.

So any brutal repression of uprisings in this area is a legacy of the Mongols. History is a powerful force and the Mongols are still with us. It is very true that "There is no such thing as the past".

There was another historical factor at work with IS, Islamic State, that had nothing to do with Islam. IS was proclaimed in Mosul, which was once the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. The territory conquered by IS was roughly the same as that of the Assyrians, in ancient times, and the Assyrians were even more brutal than the Mongols.

We have got to expect that there will be violence in America. The legacy of the battles against the native Indians, the Civil War and the "Wild West" are very much still with us.

Why does England have disturbing stabbing attacks? By the second civil war, the Anglicans and the Puritans in the Stuart Era, guns had been developed. But in the first civil war, the War of the Roses that led to the Tudor Era, combat was still done with swords and lances and arrows, and that history is still with us.

Here is a link to "Why We Should Understand The Mongols".

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2016/05/why-we-should-understand-mongols.html?m=0

The Prince Miracle Of Niagara

How about a miracle that you can see here? More has been added to this.

What no one knows is how much I miss the dog that we used to have. The dog's name was Prince and he lived from 1980 to 1993. Prince was a sheltie.

The thing that reminds me the most about Prince is the stars in the winter. The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is in the constellation Canis Major and is known as the "Dog Star". The stars of the constellation look like a dog playfully jumping and that is just how Prince used to jump.

Prince used to hate vacuum cleaners and my mother used to have to shut him in the bedroom so that she could vacuum. Prince would scratch the door and these scratches are still there.

The Bible doesn't state whether animals can be in Heaven. But what I know is that God is the one who makes the rules and over the years I have asked God that Prince, as well as our other pets, might be in Heaven.

Something interesting happened, after I had made a charitable donation. For some reason I remembered a church near where I used to live as a boy on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. I was never in the church but the name of it was St. Andrews, on Morrison Street. I went through a childhood phase where I didn't understand why my parents didn't give me a middle name and I thought of adopting Andrew as my middle name, especially since the Queen had a son the same age as me named Andrew.

I went to have a look at the church on Google Street View and saw something amazing. In the cloud, right above the bell tower and cross of the church, is an unmistakable dog that looks just like Prince as shown in the photo, as indicated by the red dot. The imagery on Google Street View has since been updated but this is still visible if you go to "see more dates" and go to July 2023.

This is just like how Prince used to stand. He appears to be barking while looking upward, with his tail swished to his left, just like in the photo.

Here is a closer look. The green dot is on his head, you can clearly see his right eye and open mouth. The purple dot is his right front leg. The red dot is his right haunches and the yellow dot is his tail. This is also what his ears looked like when seen from this angle.

I used to often chase Prince to exercise him. On his back you can clearly see a figure running, below the red dot in the following image.

My parents completely spoiled Prince. There were these rectangular dog biscuits that he really liked. I can't remember the name of them. It got so that Prince had to have a biscuit to do anything, to go outside, to come back in, or to go to bed. The rectangular object in front of Prince, shown by the red dot in the following image, looks just like one of his biscuits. It looks like he is barking at something and will be quiet if we give him a biscuit, although even that didn't work with the vacuum cleaner.

This is absolutely awesome. I am going to see Prince again and it will be for all of eternity. God gave me a miracle like this so I could show it to you because you can have miracles too. 

This is the Prince Miracle. God has given me a miracle that I can show you here. Niagara Falls is the site of a miracle that can be seen anywhere. A short distance from where this took place is where I first read the Bible. We used to have Bible readings in the gym at Valley Way School. 

THE BOULDER LANDING ON THE FEET OF THE STATUE

Now let's go on to another subject, the Book of Daniel in the Bible.

The second chapter of the Book of Daniel, in the Old Testament of the Bible, has the famous prophecy of the statue that, from top to bottom, represent the four successive dominant empires of the future. These are Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece and, Rome. By the time this prophecy was made, the time of Egypt and Assyria as the greatest powers had passed. But a great boulder, not the work of humans, will land on the feet of the statue and shatter it.

This impact represents the failure of the godless and idolatrous empires and nations, before God sends Jesus back to run the world directly. But why would God choose to illustrate it with imagery such as this, a boulder landing on the feet of a statue? Remember that the Book of Daniel is very old, from the Babylon-Persian era and well before it was known that there would be great European powers, Greece and Rome.

Since the order of empires moves from top to bottom on the statue, this means that the feet represent the Roman Empire, which was centered on the Italian Peninsula. In the following image from Google Earth notice that, on a map, the peninsula is in the form of a boot and Sicily is in the form of a boulder about to land on it.

BACK TO THE PRINCE MIRACLE 

Now, considering that the geography of Italy and Sicily corresponds to the scenario in the Book of Daniel, what do you notice about the Prince Miracle?

The congregation of St. Andrew's Church seems to be primarily Indian. We see the dog and the rectangular biscuit above the cross of the church. Notice that the geography of India can be defined by a cross and neighboring Pakistan is shaped like a dog. The geography clearly includes the dog's tail, head, body and, both sets of legs. In the following image, from the Wikipedia article "East Pakistan", India is shown with the cross and Pakistan is in light green.

The rectangular biscuit in the clouds represent Bangladesh, shown in dark green. Not only is Bangladesh roughly rectangular in geographical shape but there is a definite circle in the middle of the rectangular biscuit in the cloud. This looks just like the Flag of Bangladesh. Image from the Wikipedia article by that name.

The name of the dog is Prince and the name of the church is St. Andrew's. Now that Prince Andrew has fallen, it looks like God wants people from India, Pakistan and, Bangladesh to take over Christianity as they have taken over cricket.

Brussels

Brussels, the capital and largest city of Belgium, is also the headquarters of the European Union. It is a very old city. Belgium has been ruled by the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and, France, before gaining independence from the Netherlands in 1830 to become an independent country.

Belgium separated from the Netherlands primarily because of religion, so that it could remain Catholic. Belgium is split by language. The northern part of the country, known as Flanders, primarily speaks Dutch. The southern part, known as Wallonia, primarily speaks French. Brussels is actually within the Dutch-speaking area, but French has gradually become the daily language.

One of the first things that comes to mind about Belgium is beer. My impression is that beer is to Belgium as wine is to France. There are a myriad of dark beers and light beers, and Belgians have well-established routines as to which beer is appropriate for any given moment.

If the southern part of Belgium speaks French, then why didn't it just join neighboring France? The answer could be the old beer vs. wine conflict. Belgium drinks beer and France drinks wine. Further east why should Austria, which speaks German, be separate from Germany? Could part of the reason be that Austria drinks wine while Germans drink beer with that grand celebration of beer, Oktoberfest, being held in neighboring Bavaria?

In this visit, I compare various features of Brussels with corresponding features of Paris. In no way do I think that Brussels is copying Paris, but that the two French-speaking cities have developed along parallel tracks.

The famous square at the center of Brussels, with the medieval guild halls, is called Grand Place. It began as a marketplace in the Middle Ages. If there is a more attractive city square in the world, I cannot imagine what it is. The following eight images of Grand Place are from Google Earth And Street View. The building with the tower is the City Hall.

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

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Grand+Place/@50.8466968,4.3527191,3a,75y,210.58h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sdnPr74o6fpJjDyaUlci-Zg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DdnPr74o6fpJjDyaUlci-Zg%26yaw%3D210.58365150137408!7i13312!8i6656!4m6!3m5!1s0x47c3c47f4614f1f1:0xb03c355d8fe2cfb6!8m2!3d50.8467887!4d4.3524356!16zL20vMGx5OWc?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTExMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Place Royale is where the former medieval Palace of Coudenberg was located. There are many museums today as well as the Belgian Royal Palace. The first two of the following three images around Place Royale is the Royal Palace.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8421953,4.3597055,3a,60y,313.15h,91.59t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJN-hLd6zDDk7GBT57XqXYQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

But Laeken is where the Belgian royal family lives today. The first two images of the Laeken Palace are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8887215,4.3563905,3a,75y,143.33h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srltyfzHZkvAEsPlvxye0DA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DrltyfzHZkvAEsPlvxye0DA%26yaw%3D143.32976440327653!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTExMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Brussels' version of Notre Dame Cathedral is the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. The first five images of the cathedral are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8478329,4.3601078,3a,75y,134.67h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMkz8MZZfDegaCwjBcO0PmpZLvm1RgEKosOYYB4!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMkz8MZZfDegaCwjBcO0PmpZLvm1RgEKosOYYB4%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi2.3990767-ya12.494568-ro-1.6568412-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

The Congress Column is in memory of Belgian independence. What is now Belgium used to be the southern part of the Netherlands. But earlier Spanish control had lasted longer in the southern area and that contributed to it being more Catholic than the Protestant northern part of the Netherlands. An opera inspired the Catholic south to rebel, in 1830, to form the separate nation of Belgium. This revolution took place just after the July Revolution, in France, in which the House of Bourbon was replaced by the cadet House of Orleans. The Netherlands had earlier broken away from Spanish control to become the Dutch Republic, in 1531. The first image of the Congress Column is from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Congress+Column/@50.8500628,4.3637237,3a,75y,7.37h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sfQZrzOlp6RK0HaKo8j_-oA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DfQZrzOlp6RK0HaKo8j_-oA%26yaw%3D7.37452109759618!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x47c3c37e5ff122ff:0xb7c4e78b081f59f7!8m2!3d50.8501269!4d4.3634706!16s%2Fm%2F02vsfwr?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTExMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The National Basilica of the Sacred Heart is Belgium's version of Paris' Sacre Coeur. The first six images of the National Basilica are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8670934,4.3170834,3a,75y,187.82h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNWUc_N7Y9w3VnNE-5u7omERLe1kma6YQ-kBhWS!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNWUc_N7Y9w3VnNE-5u7omERLe1kma6YQ-kBhWS%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya261.95532-ro-0-fo100!7i7680!8i3840

This is the Cinquantenaire Arch, where many museums are located. This could be thought of as Belgium's version of the Louvre, along with Napoleon's arch there which also has four horses. It also resonates with the Eiffel Tower, as this was built on the fiftieth anniversary of the Belgian Revolution as the Eiffel Tower was built on the hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution. The first three images of the Arch are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8404277,4.3933942,3a,75y,310.45h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNlErqHBR8npMGtupA51Jxh3nni_Oq73BDqTz3x!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNlErqHBR8npMGtupA51Jxh3nni_Oq73BDqTz3x%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya323.47458-ro-0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830

The molecular model of an iron crystal, the Atomium, was built for the 1958 Expo in Brussels. This can be considered as Belgium's version of the Eiffel Tower, which was built for the 1889 Expo in Paris. The first four images are from Google Earth and Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8948778,4.3423777,3a,75y,295.7h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPekZLIGBwhdNd1cY3rAYfbn5-aF-iG-mroyeb3!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPekZLIGBwhdNd1cY3rAYfbn5-aF-iG-mroyeb3%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi15.809718-ya16.030882-ro2.5984259-fo100!7i7200!8i3600

This is the modern central business district of Brussels. The first three images are from Google Earth.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bd+Simon+Bolivar,+Belgium/@50.861661,4.3535723,3a,75y,126.6h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s9JneEe85COG4dkFKsyGiLQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3D9JneEe85COG4dkFKsyGiLQ%26yaw%3D126.59873361613424!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x47c3c39c66a8ac9b:0xfca5f17d92eec0d4!8m2!3d50.8611682!4d4.355548!16s%2Fg%2F120z_c3b?authuser=0&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTExMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

This is a residential area of Brussels.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8302079,4.3713376,3a,60y,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2U3Df3RqqJUxD2FwA7o6_Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Here is another residential area, further from the city center.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8739884,4.3935703,3a,60y,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQOF1td7jAkXMV7J967v33g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Russia's Oreshnik Missile

Russia has launched an Oreshnik missile into Ukraine. These are nuclear capable missiles, although it was launched without a nuclear warhead. The missile travels at several times the speed of sound, and this makes it extremely difficult to intercept.

The name of the missile means "hazel tree". This is reportedly because the light trails of the multiple warheads falling resembles the catkins on a hazel tree. This means that they would also resemble what are known as "falling stars", actually meteors.

The Book of Revelation, Chapter 8, describes a "falling star" that is named Wormwood. It also describes how people would die from drinking the "water made bitter" by the falling star. It turns out that the cardinal rule of surviving after a nuclear attack or mishap is to never drink from open water. The skin shields against alpha particles but they are deadly if they get inside the body.

But why would a "falling star" be named for wormwood, which is a shrub? In 1986 there was the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, which is also in Ukraine, and the name of Chernobyl means "Wormwood".

I wonder if the Oreshnik missile could have been purposely designed and named so that it would fulfill Bible Prophecy.

For a detailed explanation of Bible Prophecy see the parallel postings on this blog, "The End Of The World As We Know It" and "Inducing The Apocalypse".

The Compass Ruler

Have you ever thought about inventing something? Or coming up with an idea of your own? Here is a measurement tool that I invented. Now there are measurement apps for phones, but I thought of this in the 1990s.

There is a very simple measurement tool that I thought of that can quickly and easily accomplish tasks that are very cumbersome and time-consuming with existing methods. This tool can be very easily homemade and I believe that anyone involved in any kind of building, constructing or, surveying would find it invaluable. 

I decided, for various reasons, not to pursue a patent for it any longer. So, I have decided to put it here in the public domain so that anyone can make their own and no one else can get a patent on it.

One day, I drove past some large fuel storage tanks in Tonawanda, NY near the South Grand Island Bridges. Just as a mental exercise, I tried to dream up a way to quickly measure the circumference of such tanks or another large, circular object. I started thinking of measuring the curvature over a given linear distance with the idea that the less the curvature per linear distance, the larger the circumference.

THE CONTACT MEASUREMENT VERSION

But then another idea clicked into my mind. What if someone got an ordinary magnetic compass and enlarged either the compass itself or it's mounting so that it was circular and of a known circumference, such as a yard or a meter? 

Suppose we then placed the edge of the compass against the side of a large fuel tank and noted the directional reading given by the compass needle. Then we would note the point on the side of the compass that was in contact with the side of the tank. If we proceeded to rotate the compass over a complete circle and noted the change in the directional reading of the needle, we would have all the information needed to quickly and easily calculate the circumference of the fuel tank.

The magnetic compass is in the center. The plywood base is exactly one meter in circumference. Numbers from zero to 360 degrees are around the outside edge. The numbers on the inside are for measuring circumference or curvature.

If we placed the compass against the side of the fuel tank and noted that the directional reading of the needle was 192 degrees and then rotated the compass a complete circle so that the point on it's edge that had originally contacted the side of the tank was back in the same place, all we would have to do would be to take the fraction of a complete circle that the needle changed during the rotation and multiply it by the circumference of the compass mounting and we would have the answer, the circumference of the tank.

For example, If the compass mounting was one yard in circumference and, upon completion of the rotation the needle had moved from 192 degrees to 196 degrees, the circumference of the tank would be 360/4 times one yard. In other words, 90 yards. This presumes, of course, that the tank is a perfect circle.

I decided that the device would be called "The Compass Ruler" and made one of my own by getting a Wal-Mart hiking compass, breaking off the casing and, gluing it onto a piece of plywood I had cut with a jig saw to a circumference of exactly one meter. I knew enough about building and construction to know that such a tool was not in common use. However, I checked extensively to see if such a tool was in use anywhere and found no sign that it was. 

There was once such a thing as a surveyor's compass, that had fallen into disuse, but it was a compass mounted on a stand and was in no way used like my Compass Ruler would be. On my device, measurements would be taken by actually contacting the side of a structure.

The principle of the operation of the Compass Ruler is simple. Just as a plumb, a weight tied to a string, uses the earth's gravity as a fixed reference point for measurement of vertical angles, the Compass Ruler uses the earth's magnetic field as a fixed reference point for measurement of horizontal angles. The Compass Ruler obviously must be marked around the circumference edge in degrees, just as a protractor would be.

There is an even simpler version of the Compass Ruler. Simply take a square of wood, 1 x 4 for example, and glue a compass in the middle of it. For best results, be sure that it is indeed a square and that each cardinal direction of the compass faces toward the middle of one side of the wood. Suppose you have built a corner between two walls or fences and you want to be sure that it does indeed form a right angle. Simply hold one side of your Compass Ruler against one wall and note the directional reading of the needle. Then hold the same side against the other wall. You should get a change in the needle of exactly ninety degrees. Simple.

This method is just as useful if the two walls do not actually contact each other, or for that matter do not even come near each other. This makes the old standby, the builder's square seem awkward and obsolete by comparison. Verifying a right angle by the 3-4-5 Pythagorean Theorem method is also awkward and time-consuming.

Suppose it is necessary to measure the angle between any two walls that do not actually intersect. With a builder's square it is impossible. With tape measures it is tedious, time-consuming and, prone to error. With a surveying crew, it is expensive. With my Compass Ruler, it is almost effortless.

This image shows measurement of the first wall at position A. Zero the compass needle, remember that the outside edge of the Compass Ruler is marked from zero to 360 degrees. Note the contact point against the wall when the needle is zeroed, shown by the yellow dot. Then put the contact point, the yellow dot, on the other wall, shown in position B. The needle of the compass will continue to point in the same direction but the angle of the zero point on the Compass Ruler will be different. If the two walls are indeed perpendicular, the difference will now be 90 degrees. If the walls are perfectly perpendicular then the difference will be 180 degrees. It does not matter if the walls are in contact or near each other.

What if you have built a long wall or fence and want to verify it's straightness? All you have to do is walk down the wall, taking periodic measurements with the Compass Ruler by placing the same point on it's edge against the wall. If the wall is indeed straight, you will get exactly the same directional reading of the needle on every measurement. If it is not straight, by measuring the wall with the Compass Ruler at given intervals, you can tell by how much it curves.

This is also useful for a vast number of other such similar measurements. How would you verify that two parallel walls are truly parallel? Just take a reading on one wall with the Compass Ruler. Then, go to the other wall and put the same edge against that wall. If the walls are parallel, you will get a difference in the directional readings of 180 degrees.

Suppose you wished to set up a series of signs along a road and wished them to all have the same directional orientation. How would you do it? What if you were setting up a sign along the road and wanted it to be set at 45 degrees to the road to give maximum exposure. Or suppose you were building a wall or fence and wished it to run parallel (or perpendicular) to the road.

All of these tasks would be difficult, impossible or expensive with existing methods. With my Compass Ruler, all would be simple and easy. To measure the directional orientation of the road with the Compass Ruler, simply place the device on the road surface alongside a traffic line on the road. Then set up the sign at the desired angle, relative to the road.

Measurement of curvature is just as easy with the Compass Ruler. Just take readings against the curved structure at regular intervals. Curvature can be expressed as change in the directional orientation of the needle per given linear distance. Another advantage of either version of the Compass Ruler, either the circular or the simpler square version of the device, is that contact measurements, such as those described above, are not hampered if two structures to be measured and compared are not visible from each other or if there is an obstacle, like a row of bushes, between two structures.

THE SURVEYING VERSION

Surveying is easy with the Compass Ruler. Suppose you want to get an accurate measurement of the distance to a certain remote point. First, you would either set up or pick out a remote visible reference point to use in the measurements. Then you would mark the local point from which you would take the measurement to the remote point. Then you would establish a measurement point a convenient distance away so that a line from the local point (Point A) to the nearby measurement point (Point C) would form a right angle with a line from point A to the remote point (Point B).

Using a straight-edge, such as a perfectly straight 1 x 4 board as shown by the red line in the first image, you would sight on the remote point B from the local point A looking straight down the straight-edge. You would use the Compass Ruler to note the directional orientation of the straight-edge as it points from Point A to Point B. You would then go to the nearby measurement Point C that you have selected and take another sighting on the remote Point B from there.

All you would than have to do is take the difference in the angular reading of the two measurements. Using a scientific calculator, you would get the cotangent of the angular difference. You would then multiply the cotangent by the distance from Point A, the local point, to the nearby measurement Point C. That would give you the distance from Point A to the remote Point B.

Obviously, for best results in surveying using the Compass Ruler, measurements must be taken carefully. The distance from Point A to Point C must be accurately measured. And, the same spot on the remote point B must be sighted upon. The longer the carefully measured distance from Point A to Point C is in relation to the distance from Point A to the remote Point B is, the better the result will be. It should always be at least 10% of the remote distance.

It is not necessary to have a right angle between the two lines from points A to C and from A to B, but if not, the simplicity of a cotangent calculation will be lost and a graphical calculation will become necessary. If possible, the baseline for the measurement from Point A to Point C can make use of a pre-existent line, such as a road.

The straight-edge can be built onto the Compass Ruler if it is to be used for surveying. For even better results, the straight-edge can be fitted with a small telescope, a laser pointer, or, both. A vertically diagonal mirror can make it possible to see the compass on the Compass Ruler at the same time that the sighting is being done. For a finishing touch, the entire device can be set on a mounting.

To set up a marker, such as a traffic cone, at a given distance in a given direction from a starting point, use the reverse of this method. Pre-set a sighting from a Point B to that distance and have a rodman walk with the marker until he is in the sight. Then use hand signals or radio/phone communication to have the marker set up at the correct point.

Suppose you are out on the water in a boat and wish to measure how far you are from shore because you notice a shipwreck or some other object of interest under the water and wish to record the position. You would pick out two easily recognizable objects on shore such as trees or large rocks. The two objects should be in a line perpendicular to the line between you and one of the objects. Measure the angle between the two objects from where you are in the boat and record it.

Later, you would carefully measure the distance between the two objects using a tape measure or a map. Then you would take the cotangent of the angle measured from the boat and multiply it by that distance. Alternatively, you could simply take the directional readings of any two (or more) prominently visible, fixed position objects. The position on the water could then be charted using a map or satellite photo of the area.

Astronomers have long used this technique to measure the distance to stars, it is known as parallax. The carefully measured distance from Point A to Point B is referred to as the baseline, the distance across the earth's orbit around the sun six months apart. 

The same principle can be used with the Compass Ruler to map an entire area. Simply pick out visible objects such as trees, houses, etc. Measure the distances from a central point to the objects and then measure the angular distances between those objects from the central point. The map then can be easily made using a ruler and protractor. Of course, on complex maps, more than one central point can be used. If the terrain to be mapped is hilly, the logical place for the central points would obviously be on the high ground.

THE DRAWING VERSION

Aside from the contact measurement and surveying versions, there is yet version of the Compass Ruler, the drawing version. Simply fasten or glue a small compass to a straight-edge such as a ruler and it makes the protractor used in geometric drawings just as obsolete as the builder's square is in construction. To draw two lines at a certain angle to each other, simply draw one, noting the angle indicated on the compass dial. Then move the straight-edge so that the difference showing on the dial is now the desired angle and then draw the second line. To measure the angle between two existing lines, simply reverse this process.

If the drawing paper is securely taped down, aligned either east-west or north-south with the compass for best results, an entire geometric drawing can be made with unprecedented accuracy using the drawing version of the Compass Ruler. Parallel lines will have the same compass dial reading anywhere in the drawing. Perpendicular lines will differ 90 degrees in reading. Existing methods are far inferior to this. Of course, it would be simple to draw a map that was surveyed using the surveying version of the tool, just drawing the measurements on paper.

There are certainly many more everyday applications of this simple but extremely useful device. The device could also bring geometry and trigonometry classes to life. The lessons that now consist of drawing lines and circles on paper could occasionally be done as actual measurements in the gym or schoolyard.

Anyone can make their own of any version of the Compass Ruler, the circular or the simpler square version for contact measurements. Or the surveying or drawing versions with an attached or accompanying straight-edge. It can also be manufactured and sold although it will not be patentable now that I have put it in the public domain.

We read of George Washington Carver and how he revealed many things that the humble peanut can be used for. I would like to do the same thing for the simple device known as the magnetic compass. Just as GPS systems are becoming ubiquitous and the old magnetic compass seems to be of little use any more, we see that there is a whole world of tasks that it can accomplish most effectively. Any simple compass would have it's usefulness multiplied if it were encased with a straight side to perform some of the measurements listed above.

This link is to the posting about building.

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2023/08/observations-about-building.html?m=0

LEADING TO THE COSMOLOGY THEORY

I developed the idea for a measurement tool, for building and construction, that could do things that no other measurement tool could. The concept for the tool, the use of the earth's magnetic field as a horizontal plumb in a hand-held tool, had not yet been patented. I made a prototype and every time I used it I noticed more that it could do that no other tool could easily do.

However, I did not want to start a company and the trouble with trying to get a company to develop it was that the tool was so simple that I couldn't describe how it worked without giving it away so that anyone could steal the idea. Finally I decided that it was taking up too much of my time and attention and set it aside.

But after I put the tool aside, all of the lines and angles involved with it were still in my mind. One day, I was wondering about what time actually was. It suddenly flashed into my mind that there must be a dimension of space that we cannot see, but that we perceive as time, and that matter consists of strings in four dimensions of space, rather than the particles in three dimensions of space that we perceive.

After that, one unexplained mystery in physics after another just fell into place. An abbreviated version of the cosmology theory that I developed as a result can be seen in the following link.

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2024/01/cosmology-theory-in-diagrams.html?m=0