The Big Bang - or just a fizzle?

I have mentioned it before in my blog and I shall surely keep coming back, but after BBC4's feature "Lost Horizons" about the Big Bang, Dark Matter and uncritical (i.e. wrong!!) adherence to Einstein's General and Special Relativity Theories, I have to get this off my chest:

I agree with Fred Hoyle:
There never was a Big Bang - at least not in the form that created the Universe.
Sadly, he died in 2001, so he's not here to say: Well done Jorgen - or more correctly: Frank Atkinson, who woke me up.

Two axioms stood out in the TV feature:
1. The scientists claim, that the redshift of light from distant galaxies implies that everything is moving away from everything. This could only have been caused by the Mother of All Explosions, the Big Bang. Otherwise galaxies wouldn't fly hither dither, leaving more and more space between them. But do they? Some scientists claim that our own galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy will collide in the future - somewhere between 2Bill years and 15Bill years from now. Semantics, I'd say - but it indicates that not all galaxies are moving away from all other galaxies. In fact, there are many examples of colliding galaxies.
2. Scientists still cannot find the Dark Matter - however, they stubbornly maintain that it takes up 70% of matter in our ever expanding Universe.

Come on, guys!!!
We now know that 'time' is a parameter that is as connected to energy as the other side of the medal is to the first. Energy cannot exist without time and vice versa. But as the law of energy conservation says that energy cannot disappear or just increase, so we can conclude (roughly) that time has always been - although perhaps in HUGELY dilated form if we assume the Universe once was a super dense ball in a non-extant soup (a bit far fetched, but why not).
Time can become dilated and consequently the speed of light increased (or decreased if time is contracted) in order to maintain the 300,000 Km/sec. Dilation happens close to a large gravitational field or if a body moves at a speed close to the speed of light.
This we can measure as undisputable.

So how about axiom 1?
Some years ago Science would have us believe, that the redshift of light (stretching in wavelength) was due  to the Doppler effect. As we observe this around the globe, the consequence is that we are at the centre of the Universe and that idea, I believe, was droppped hundreds of years ago, except if you are a creationist.
Next, the scientists forced their theories to conform with the idea that space was able to stretch and contract light - - but there's no scientific evidence that this happens.
The fact is, that we are a little lost!!
What if the Universe is infinite and NOT expanding?
The Hubble telescope keeps surprising us with galaxies in areas that were thought empty, assessed to be 40Bill Light years away.
In a 14.7Bill years old universe?
Time to review the space-time curvature and other obsolete ideas.

We know that light is emitted as photons, travels as electromagnetic waves and is observed as photons at the receiving point.
We also know that large gravitational fields dilate time, meaning that as the light passes through the Universe, it is constantly being pulled or pushed through dilated 'time-fields'.
This is bound to cause considerable redshifting - more so, if the light comes from very, very far away, exactly as will be the case in an infinite Universe.
No expansion, no balloon stretching, no strings - just an enormity we cannot grasp.
And sometimes, most of the time in fact, the redshift is so enormous that it disappears out of sight beyond infra red.
And therefore we cannot see it.
It also loses so much energy that virtually nothing is left over, when it reaches us.
Perhaps that explains the 2.7 degree Kelvin, almost absolute 0, that we observe. Perhaps it helps explain the so called background radiation, which science wants us to believe stems from the Big Bang.

Consequently, there is no reason to invent this explosion.
It quite simply never occurred!!

Now axiom 2.
Dark Matter is an extraordinarily crazy invention, that came about, as we couldn't explain how the clumps originated that were responsible for the creation of galaxies.
It is there to fit the scientists' mathematical equations.
But isn't that exactly what science is NOT about - the wrong way around.
Guys - look it in the eyes: the equations are wrong!

Scientists have even descended into deep mines and caves in order to detect the Dark Matter, well out of interference from any background radiation.
And found nothing.
Yet they tell us that it has mass and takes up 70-80% of matter in the Universe - but emits no radiation (hence "dark").
Newton's law about mass attracting mass, although at a power inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the bodies and directly proportional to the bodies' mass, seems to be universal. This leads to another discussion: is gravity distributed in waves, as claimed by science, or is it instantaneous across the Universe? It is commonly agreed that the Universe is homogeneous ('orderly') on a grand scale. I doubt this would be the case with gravity working 'only' at the speed of light. The conclusion is the extraordinary thought, that gravity 'just is' and also that gravity is a consequence rather than just the so-called "weakest power" at all. This is another topic I shall pick up later - with the help of Frank Atkinson.

The 14.7Bill number is a guess, based on the redshift. But as we haven't explained the origin of the redshift and rather used it as an explanation - unscientifically - this is a wet thumb in the air.
Well, some say the world is only 6000 years old, but compared to infinity 14.7Bill years is as good a guess as 6000 years.
More importantly, if the Dark Matter has been there for a very long time and if there is a lot of it, wouldn't it have collected the odd floating visible, proton and slowly dressed itself up - just like the Invisible Man, who could only be seen when he wore coat, hat and scarf?

Dark Matter therefore appears to be a very un-scientific invention, much like the belief in the existence of an "Ether" - a belief Morley and Michelson defused many years ago.

Are we not getting closer to the realisation that
- there never was a BIG Bang
- there is no Dark Matter
?????

If the above can be agreed and if Einstein's General and Special Relativity theories can be defused (they  can! They self-eliminate - see my blog-entries from Oct 2011) there are at least 3 consequences:

- We have to start all over again, as we still haven't found the unifying theory between the very large (the Universe) and the very small (Particle Theory)
- the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is a waste of money - a lot of money.  Well, almost - we have now paid to know that we don't know; If Higgs Boson and recreated Dark Matter remain elusive we should probably close it down. Unfortunately scientists are unwilling to eat humble pie despite the fact, that they could sit down at their desks and drill a big hole in the Special Relativity Theory using just a bit of brain power, pen and paper!
- perhaps 'time', as a lost or underestimated physics parameter, should be taken out of the moth-bag and checked as a stepping stone to a solution, a very elegant one in fact.

There are more consequences, as if the above were not enough - and some of them have deep impact on our beliefs, both religious and more practical.
It can be tough enough to realise that mass is constant and lightspeed variable, depending on the observer's time dilation.

If there is a God (trust me: there isn't!) she has certainly made it difficult for us to get to the core of the creation process. She's teasing us, lifting just a bit of her dress, but not letting us see the whole leg.
Perhaps that's all we will ever see.
.

The Multicultural Human Condition IX

To all of you, who think the Dutchman Geert Wilders has got it wrong:

The 94 bus from Picadilly towards Chiswick was almost full at Regent Street in London.
But there was an available seat next to a woman dressed from top to toe in a dark sheet.
Only her eyes peered out through a narrow slit.
I sat down and got an immediate reaction: "You can't sit here! I am a muslim woman".

What happened to the "Ummah"?

In my modest opinion: present day Muslims have lost it.
As much as the Christians have got their mental knickers in a twist.
In fact - there's religion for you!

I leave further thoughts and comments to the reader.
.

Worth a thought?

Some time ago I received this text via eMail.
My immediate thought was to send it to eMail heaven, sharing a space with all the other useless fluff one receives - but then I started reading. It is not rocket science and most people under 35 wouldn' understand a word, probably.
I have addedd a few of my own additional thoughts, but the basic text was spot on - with me!

So here goes:

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ..... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old - or perhaps: some of them won't and they will never know, that they are missing the only chance they'll ever get.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you break a relationship, lose a friend or when a child suffers, or when a beloved pet dies? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.
I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, or even lose it and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face and into the memories of good friends.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong and I have earned the right to express my thoughts and feelings if I wish - and shut up if that's my choice.

I am happy with my value-system. I have lived with it for a long time and it gives me the right to do what I want, as it doesn't include hurting others. I express my opinions freely and expect mature answers - if not, I stop the discussion. I love meeting people; it enriches our lives, but I will not listen to demands about whom I can see and whom not. This is my business only and other people must respect that.

Therefore, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying too much about what will be.
 
I believe that humans essentially are just animals. Our branch of the great ape-species has only been a visitor to Earth for a few million years - less than 1/1000 of the Earth's age.  When my time is up, it's up, and all that remains is "dust and worms". I may worry slightly about the transition from being to not being, but what comes after is as insignificant as a swatted fly, as I won't know. No derogatory use of a group of virgins, no wings and boring harp-play and no roaming in people's closets after midnight! Just nothing - and it suits me to the core.
This belief has given me great peace - and I will enjoy it every second that's left.

La Rose du Thoronet



La Rose du Thoronet, Oil on board.



I finally managed to complete a picture that I have had in mind since 1996.

Abbaye du Thoronet is an old Cistercian monastery in Var, Provence. Ruined to some extent, but also with major parts under reconstruction and quite well preserved. You can almost see the monks wandering around in the cloisters and hear their Gregorian chorus.

It is not nearly as large as the other famous cistercian monastery, Clairveaux, but almost beats it in atmosphere.

I visited on a very warm September day and it hit me, how clever the old monks were, when they sought out the best places for their 'humble' abodes - close to a river, but on the highest point, catching a little wind to chill the 'chaleur'.