THE GOLDEN EVOLUTION (Part 3)

(That is a startling photo to introduce you to both religion and the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, as we shall see.)

Whether there is a God or not is a state of mind. God could be real, imagined or non-existent, but you will almost never be able to convince anyone one way or the other with compelling logic, unless, as religion does, you start early and saturate a young mind, reinforced by family traditions. This is why more than 90% (and could well be higher, as later polls will show in some detail) of people today harbor some true belief.

The matter of an afterlife, though, might have a better chance for reasonably and conclusively proving a point. For one, there has never been an authenticated confirmation of such an existence, plus, every refereed challenge has revealed mostly outright hoaxes and embarrassing naivete, with not one proving any communication from that other world. So let me be so bold as to state...

There is No Afterlife…However

As we get older, the notion of eternal gloom more and more becomes terrifying for some of us. This is the 21^st Century. I’m an educated person. Yes, there are a lot of things I don’t understand, but something so fundamental as an afterlife surely should have been resolved by now. Why haven’t our best minds come up with some proof? Will another billion years of progress add to the information base? Chances are, the answer will be no! Thus, I have come to believe that there is no Afterlife, and, furthermore, no life controlling Supreme Being. The notion that in the beginning God was created by Man, as we also invented the family structure, agriculture and television, is sounding more and more plausible.

This attitude, historically, has always been dangerous to your health, and remains so today. If this book ever gets published, could I rather suddenly be placed by any fervent Muslim on some Fatwa (decree calling for your termination) list? There are religious fanatics—make that, really true believers—in virtually every religion that could well share similar sincere views. For anyone contemplating the internet for this unnecessary call to action, I urge you to read through this chapter and consider three grounds for reconsideration. First, I could be wrong. Maybe you can first try to convince me of my ignorance. Second, there are other more radical and insensitive authors out there, perhaps more deserving of your attention. Third, the whole point of this chapter is to arrive at a simple solution for religion. I am trying to be constructive.

I’m trying to bring a fresh new perspective to the future of religion, which is also to say that I am also almost totally out of my element in the field. Thus, the ignorance excuse in the previous paragraph sounds disingenuous, but is most definitely true. A great majority of people, even Americans, believe in God and the Afterlife. Just look at the three most popular newly born boys names in the country: Jacob, Michael and Joshua, all straight from The Bible. Hawaii, of course, where I grew up, is different. Our top three are Joshua, Jacob and Noah. Whoops, maybe this re-education solution is something I should take more seriously. This I actually did, as the following will reveal, although I kept changing my allegiance, and remain stably fluid.

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Apropos to the current subject, I today welcome the 127th nation to my blog from:

JORDAN POPULATION: 6,198,677

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Background

Following World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the UK received a mandate to govern much of the Middle East. Britain separated out a semi-autonomous region of Transjordan from Palestine in the early 1920s, and the area gained its independence in 1946; it adopted the name of Jordan in 1950. The country's long-time ruler was King HUSSEIN (1953-99). A pragmatic leader, he successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US, USSR, and UK), various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population. Jordan lost the West Bank to Israel in the 1967 war and barely managed to defeat Palestinian rebels who threatened to overthrow the monarchy in 1970. HUSSEIN in 1988 permanently relinquished Jordanian claims to the West Bank. In 1989, he reinstituted parliamentary elections and initiated a gradual political liberalization; political parties were legalized in 1992. In 1994, he signed a peace treaty with Israel. King ABDALLAH II, the son of King HUSSEIN, assumed the throne following his father's death in February 1999. Since then, he has consolidated his power and undertaken an aggressive economic reform program. Jordan acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2000, and began to participate in the European Free Trade Association in 2001. In 2003, Jordan staunchly supported the Coalition ouster of Saddam in Iraq and following the outbreak of insurgent violence in Iraq, absorbed hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis, most of whom remain in the country. Municipal elections were held in July 2007 under a system in which 20% of seats in all municipal councils were reserved by quota for women. Parliamentary elections were held in November 2007 and saw independent pro-government candidates win the vast majority of seats. In November 2007, King ABDALLAH instructed his new prime minister to focus on socioeconomic reform, developing a healthcare and housing network for civilians and military personnel, and improving the educational system.

Geography People Government Economy Communications Transportation Military

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THE GOLDEN EVOLUTION (Part 2)

On this Christmas Day, I refer you to THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS from my posting of 25December08. Former Catholics for Christ have compared Jesus with Santa Claus. As I am conveniently now serializing my religion chapter, today, in somewhat the humorous spirit of last year, I'll skip a couple of pages from Chapter 5 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity to insert:

Santa Claus Versus God

Santa Claus and God are almost eerily similar. In my mind, they are both Anglo-Saxon males who promise gifts or a reward if you are good. Christmas celebrates the birthday of God’s only son, Jesus, and the eve is when Santa operates. Many, men in particular, once believed in Santa Claus, then, reached a maturity that told them better, but, not long after that, became Santa Claus, and later in life, looked like him. So goes the joke, anyway.

To recover from that, let me advance the logic one step higher by taking minimal liberties with the response to the following customized exchange in 1893 initiated by Virginia O’Hanlon:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Say, in my exercise, I had Virginia asking, instead, whether there is a God. The adjusted (for God) reply from Francis Church, editorial writer for The New York Sun, could well have been:

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except that they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a God.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no God! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in God! You might as well not believe in Santa Claus. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees God, but that is no sign that there is no God. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.”

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No God? Thank Santa Claus he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Amen!!!!

While the above rendition has been significantly adjusted, in general, why would a responsible adult go out of his way to fool a child, as was attempted? Well, because everybody does. Clearly, he was espousing a cause for the general public, because the language is way beyond the level of an 8-year old, plus, for how many of them read editorial responses to letters. Church handled all the controversial assignments on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology. He died in 1906, having had no children, and is best known for authoring the original version featuring Santa Claus of this most famous of editorial responses. Till the end he said that all he did was share the truth. Virginia passed away in 1971 after a fruitful career as an educator. But somewhere along the way, she eventually stopped believing in Santa Claus, but maybe not, God, for 90% of Americans believe in this concept.

I sent this mischievous deed of mine on Christmas Eve of 2004 to some close friends, and there were several dozen. Not one reprimanded me for being sacrilegious and some thought I was being reverential (incredible!), although I suspect most did not bother to read and digest it. There is something about family life combined with religion, perhaps assisted by, maybe, a God gene, that obscures reality. With just the replacement of Santa Claus with God, we can somewhat understand how children grow into adults, but generally maintain a belief in God.

In December of 2007, USA Weekend provided three modern-day responses to Virginia’s letter, and all three news reporters maintained the charade, although one probably got too philosophical (perhaps he, too, forgetting that he was responding to an 8 year old) with a statement that, yes, there is a Santa Claus, but not that jolly fat man, for he is you and anyone with hope. At least this kind of makes sense. The final section of this article was written by Virginia's granddaughters and deserves a read, for this closer represents what should be the spirit of Christmas. My take is a bit grinchish, and, as I think about, probably out of place on this holy and happy day. But to go on...

...the North American Aerospace Defense Command operates a Santa tracking web site, and he can be seen on December 24 moving at warp speed from the North Pole first to New Zealand, then eventually to Hawaii. Nearly a billion hits were received from 181 countries in 2005. The Santa Tracking Operations Center, staffed by 500 volunteers, actually received 55,000 calls that year. The number of calls has increased each year, so our youngsters are certainly not getting any smarter. But, then, even I, at that age, could not comprehend the enormity of Santa and his flying reindeers needing to move at several million miles/hour to get the job done in 34 hours (yes, think about it).

Now why would NORAD stoop to all this frivolity? Well, there is a history. It was started by a Sears-Roebuck ad in 1955, with phone number if you wished to talk to Santa. Alas, there was a typo, and the number listed was that of an earlier form of NORAD, the Continental Air Defense Command. All in good fun, and now that we don’t have to worry about missiles from the USSR or North Korea, what harm does this do? Also, the military plays Santa around the world and this gentleman is a symbol of good will and cheer. Plus, he’s a good poster man for God.

AskTheAtheists.com provides a virtual exchange on this subject and Unreasonable Faith has a comparative list, with 244 comments at last check. Notwithstanding all the above, I sincerely wish you all a...

...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE

On this Christmas Eve, my fish and I wish you all a Merry Christmas. I started the day with much thanks that the four vaccinations I just took only resulted in a slightly sore arm. Yes, for my next trip, never having before in my life taking more than one at a time--and I hate, really hate, injections--went the full route with typhoid, hepatitis A, tetanus and diptheria/polio. I also got a whole bunch of pills for malaria. At one point (and you'll read about this in Chapter 6 early next year) malaria pills for any length of time meant the possibility of going blind. Not so today, apparently...I hope.

Let us ignore the former Great Recession, coming Peak Oil and inevitable Global Heating for now and further look at the positives. I have a couple of bucks on SMU (which can lose by 12), and in the first half at the Hawaii Bowl, SMU 31 - Nevada 0. I scored a net 65 to earn low score for my golf group of six at Ala Wai this morning. It was sunny, with the temperature almost up to 80 degrees F. My leaking aquarium stopped leaking, the Senate passed a monumental health plan and the leader of the free world, Barack Obama, landed in Honolulu. Mele Kalikimaka Mr. President, his family and Pearl.

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The Dow Jones Industrials jumped 54 to 10,520, the highest since October of 2008, with world markets mostly up, though the Japan Nikkei slipped to 10,487. The Dow is up 19% for the year, but the NASDAQ has increased a whopping 44%. The Ford shares I bought in March have zoomed 433% and my Amazon.com since purchase is an astronomical +722%. So all is well, too, with the stock market. Gold slightly rose $3/toz to $1090 and crude oil is now at $78/barrel.

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Evan and Dillon joined me, with the Morishiges and Laverne Osora and Curtis Lee for a memorable dinner at Mandalay.

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Merry Christmas to my friends in Mauritius and Le Reunion, as Tropical Cyclone David at 55 MPH is weakening and now appearing to move north of both islands.

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THE GOLDEN EVOLUTION (Part 1)

Two days before the birth date of the most important human who ever lived, it seems appropriate to start Chapter 5 on religion from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity. Of course, we all know that Jesus was actually born on the seventh of March, 7 BC. It was Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, who in 314, adjusted the date, as he and his advisors did to generally re-write the Bible. Well, actually, this chapter starts with gold, as in the Golden Evolution:

CHAPTER 5:

THE GOLDEN EVOLUTION

Gold

God and Gold have been with us from the earliest of time and both connote power. Even The Bible in Genesis mentions this precious element. Gold was sacred in what today are Iraq and Iran 7000 years ago, and till today remains as the universal standard of trade. It says something that the Aztec word for gold, is teocuitlatl, meaning excrement of the gods. At least one society had it right, or at least a sense of humor.

The first Gold Rush in the U.S. occurred—no not San Francisco—but in the State of Georgia. That was in 1828, with the last frenzy occurring along the Klondike River in Canada during the end of the 19^th Century. Centuries before Columbus, though, the Incas and Aztecs refined goal, leading to the mythical Lost City of Gold, El Dorado, which hasn’t been found, yet. Then there is the tale of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who commanded the Japanese army in the Philippines during World War II. It is said that he buried gold worth many tens of billion dollars. The American CIA, Emperor Hirohito and Ferdinand Marcos weave into the intrigue. Much of gold lore has been well mined by the media.

Gold has the atomic number 79, does not corrode and is the most malleable and ductile of metals. The density of gold is twenty times that of water and almost double of lead. One pound can be drawn into 50 miles of 5 micrometer (one-tenth that of human hair) diameter wire. When beaten into a thin sheet, the translucent color is greenish blue, and in glass imparts an intense red color. Placed in nitric acid…nothing happens. This was early on referred to as the acid test. A liquid suspension treats rheumatoid arthritis, for this element somehow acts as an anti-inflammatory. Contrary to popular scientific opinion, base metal can be transformed into gold, as in the natural process of particle accelerators or nuclear reactors. John Bockris insisted he did (see his religion section).

The measurement of gold is arcane. Read the following only with trepidation:

o One troy ounce (toz) = 1.097 ordinary or avoirdupois ounce = 480 grains = 31.1 grams.

o There is also the tael, a Chinese measurement of gold, where one tael is 1.2 ounce. Thus, one tael has about 10% more gold than one toz, which has about 10% more gold than one ounce.

o Further, 24 karat represents 100% (really, 99.9%) gold, making 18 karat only 75% gold, but this is popular in jewelry because the other metals make the piece stronger.

o Finally, the carat (note, this starts with a c) applies to gems like diamonds, where 1 carat = about 0.2 gram. Thus, a 5 carat diamond weighs about a gram. A 24 karat gold bar has a value depending on the weight.

o For the record, platinum is about twice as expensive as gold. (Well, that was true when this book was written. As of the end of 2009, platinum is now only about 30% more expensive than gold.)

o Anyway, gold is measured in toz, except, to further confuse you, it might still be referred to as oz, although they really mean toz, unless they don't know what they mean or are trying to trick you.

The price of gold was maintained at $19.39/toz from 1800 until:

○ 1814, when it jumped a few dollars, but returned to

○ $19.39 in 1817, spiked to

○ $57 in 1864, dropping to

○ $20.67 in 1878, jerking upwards to

○ $35 in 1934, when the U.S. Congress devalued the dollar, holding steady at

○ $35-$44 until 1971 when the price floated upwards when President Richard Nixon ended U.S. dollar convertibility to gold, until it reached an all-time high of

○ $850 on January 21, 1980, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran, then further to $875, but declining to the

○ $300-$700 range over the next quarter century, until there was a spike to

○ $730 in 2006, floating up into the

○ $800/oz realm in 2007

○ $900+ in 2008 and up to $1226 this year.

The scary part about ($1226)/toz gold is that knowledgeable people buy this precious metal in anticipation of a severe economic downturn. In 2008, with rising unemployment, a continuing downturn in the housing market, malfeasance of a French trader and growing car repossessions, plus the prospects of Peak Oil and Global Heating, one can only hope that the R (recession, which occurs about every 6 years when the stock market drops by about 25%, with the previous one being after 9/11) word does not become a D (depression, and there have been six since record keeping began in 1867, with 1937-8 being the previous D). Of course, the Federal Reserve System and congressional stimulus packages will help to forestall the economic downturn, but the combined pressure of all the above will not be overcome. (The Great Recession occurred after this section was written.)

I thought $800/toz would do it, but $900/toz is ominous. Of course, compared to the $875/toz peak of 1980, which today, would have a value of $2,250, this is certainly not monumental. However, the year 2012 is, indeed, looming as a fateful year, especially if the value of gold continues rising.

Approximately a fourth to a third of the known gold is kept in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, having a rough value of $250 billion today. The U.S. Geological Survey says that there are about 160,000 tons (a little more than 5 billion troy ounces) of gold circulating today, but the ocean has 10,000,000,000 tons.

While sprinkled on fine cuisine and flaked in sake, it nevertheless can be toxic to the human body. Bacteria might well be responsible for concentrating this metal into veins. All the mined goal can be shaped into a 20 meter (66 feet on each side) cube and a ton of gold would be about 37 centimeters (1 foot three inches) on each side. Most of gold today comes from South Africa. Three parts per billion of the Earth’s crust is gold, while the ocean is at one-tenth part per billion, and could well someday become a major source of this precious metal.

There is a richness and a sacredness associated with gold. Thus, the ultimate Golden Evolution might well be a religious one.

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The Dow Jones Industrials struggled up 4 to 10,469, while world markets also all went up. The Japan Nikkei is at 10,378. Gold increased $2/toz to $1089 and crude oil is at $76/barrel.

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Tropical Cyclone David at 55 MPH seems now headed straight for Mauritius, but should weaken over the next few days.

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CHAPTER 4: SEEKING THE LIGHT—SETI (Part 10)

This is the final part of Chapter 4 on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity:

Simple SETI Solutions

The bottom line is that NASA will continue to flounder until the next space race begins, when, say, China decides to send a team to an asteroid or the Moon to mine some desirable exotic mineral, or some equivalent mission. Sputnik woke up America, and the combination of military rivalry, national pride and occasional need for international one-upsmanship have been shown to be necessary factors for any major space budget upgrade.

Simple solution for SETI advocates: stimulate a Chinese connection, for this sort of strategy succeeded for hydrogen R&D (with respect to perceived Japanese and European priority advancements—see Chapter 3 of Book 1). That is, governmental decision-makers (people in Congress and the Administration) do get concerned when a serious international rival begins to spend more money on something that could potentially affect the national psyche or security. If Senator Spark Matsunaga were still around, he might have inspired the sequel to The Mars Project (advocating U.S.-Soviet space cooperation on Mars): The Milky Way Project (to first bring China into the International Space Station, then find a way to have them develop a trinterferometer—the Station plus two other satellites in geosynchronous orbit, maintaining an equilateral triangulated formation with the Station—to detect the first true Earth-like exoplanet, hinting that their next step would be to detect actual alien signals). Perhaps, now, that could be my Book 6.

Absent any compelling external force, NASA, and SETI development, will plod along to maintain a dull edge, producing useful science and, now and then, cleverly announcing some potentially significant finding to remain in the public eye. Some unmanned craft will someday, possibly by 2050, actually discover microscopic life in our solar system, probably a moon associated with Saturn or Jupiter. That should be sufficient to continue funding for another century.

Then, a discernible signal will be detected from an earthlike planet, and the glorious mission to communicate with extraterrestrials will capture the imagination of the world for a millennium. This, however, could be centuries or millennia away…unless someone or some thing steps up to make a crucial difference…or that intelligent message arrives. But there are too many David Drumlins in government and no H.R. Hadden. If Paul Allen commits his $23 billion to this effort, well, that might work. While you await this possible inevitable, to maintain hope, keep watching, at regular intervals, Contact, the movie.

Next, Chapter 5 on the Golden Evolution about religion.

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The Dow Jones Industrials continued up, 51 to 10,465, with world markets all also increasing. The Japan Nikkei is now at 10,378. Which will be higher at year end? Gold dropped $8/toz to $1087, while crude oil is at $74/barrel and headed higher.

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Tropical Cyclone David has strengthened to 65MPH, and will begin moving southwest towards Mauritius, but should weaken and pass to the east.

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DECEMBER 21, 2009

Today is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, also known as the Winter Solstice. Winter officially has begun, although snowfall records were already broken in DC on December 19. In Hawaii, it is sunny and 80 degrees F.

On November 23 I made several predictions. The top three were:

1. On Global Climate Change: President Barack Obama will find a convincing excuse for not again going to Copenhagen (one Chicago Olympics embarrassment is enough) next month and will send in his place Michelle and Al (Gore). Of course, there will be no congressional legislation passed this year, and, maybe not next, too, unless tens of millions perish in the summer of 2010.

2. On Peak Oil: crude petroleum prices will remain under $100/barrel. (I need to pad my stats.)

3. About the Health Plan: The Senate will find a way to drag this on until December 21 or so and, somehow, find a way to call for a final up or down vote, where VP Joe Biden will cast the 51st vote to pass it. Through this means, ten deserving Democrats will be allowed to vote "no" to help them get re-elected next year. The conference committee will thus bestow a Christmas present to President Barack Obama.

Well, President Obama did go to Copenhagen, but the gathering was an "abject failure." He should have listened to me. Peak oil seems now settled below $75/barrel. As predicted, the U.S. Senate did vote today to move on the health plan. They will now officially approve the bill on Christmas Eve, work with the House in conference during the holiday period, then vote in January for the President's signature to soon follow. Thus far, the insurers and lobbyists have won. But, will there yet be a way found to re-insert the public option in conference, and orchestrate an up or down final vote (bypassing cloture)? This would allow ten Democrats/Independents to vote no and Vice President Biden to cast the winning vote.

Well, two+ out of three...not bad at all. Tomorrow, probably, the final segment of SETI.

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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 85 to 10,414, while world markets mostly were up. The Japan Nikkei is at 10,183. Gold fell $20/toz to $1093 and oil settled at $73/barrel.

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Tropical Cyclone Laurence ripped into the Australian Kimberley/Pilbara coast as a Category 3 storm.

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AVATAR

I ended my day seeing the movie, Avatar, a Hindu deity, or in this film, the embodiment of hope, but more specifically, a remote controlled and genetically created hybrid. If you go, see the IMAX 3D version.

The computer generated special effects were spectacular, the story line--anti-war, imperialism, the military-industrial complex, love, biodiversity, flying dragons and hammerhead rhinos, ten foot tall blue people, phantasmagoric spirits--a hodgepodge, for James Cameron, also the co-director with Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson, wrote the first script in 1994 as an amalgam of all the science-fiction and jungle books he had read. The setting is a moon on one of the planets of Alpha Centauri A (closest external star to Earth) in 2154, and the plot has to do with us terrible earthlings evicting the Na'vi (natives) to gain access to unobtainium (a fictitious element well-represented in science), a precious metal.

This will no doubt be the #1 movie for, maybe, weeks, as it features the obligatory mega battle loved by video geeks/freaks and youth in general. There is a video game and Mattel toys. Six characters will be distributed in McDonald's Happy Meals.

The whole effort cost from $300 million to $500 million, depending what you count. A quarter billion dollars should be recouped just the first weekend, and, if so, then the film has made money already, for the earlier European showings accumulated more than this sum. There will be two sequels.

Reviewers will generally like this movie, and so should you. I enjoyed the experience, but there was something missing. I can't say it was a great film.

Honolulu was radiant today, and also took a walk and saw a yellow tree (but not the Pearl version):

the State flower of Hawaii

and bougainvilleas on the grounds where I live.

Also a sign that said

I thus wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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