String Theory and Such

A couple thoughts: I was watching The Screen Savers the other night, and they had a physicist talking about string theory and his new book. Leo Laporte mentioned that they (the physicists) were searching for "echoes of the Big Bang". You want to see echoes of the Big Bang? Look out the window. Everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) is an echo of the Big Bang.

One of the concepts in String Theory is that the universe is made up of "strings," tiny filaments with unique vibrations. The vibration of each string determines what subatomic (or maybe sub-subatomic) particle the string represents. In essense, a string (or more likely a set of strings, they're REALLY tiny) could be vibrating in one way, causing it to "be" an electron; and the very same string(s) could have a different vibration, with the effect that it's a boson.

So, it's not the strings that are important, it's the vibration. (It's not the singer, it's the song.) Strings are merely the medium that carries the universe. The universe itself is the tune that is reverberating on the strings, from the one Big Note that was plucked on them at the beginning of time.

What if it's a bounce?

Okay, sorry. That was a cryptic question. The previous paragraph reminded me of another theory I've been working under, concerning the structure of the universe on a "macro" scale. It's from something I read in "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking. The idea is that the mass behind the event horizon of a black hole doesn't have to be concentrated at the singularity to have enough gravitational distortion to create said event horizon. It was also mentioned that the universe in which we live has sufficient average mass per volume to be within a black hole. That put the idea in my head: Take a black hole and all the mass it collects from its formation to the end of time, take those four dimensions and turn them inside out, placing the "shell" of the event horizon at the beginning of the timeline, and all the mass falls "out" into the expanding universe. The "underside" of the event horizon is basically the Big Bang of another universe.

So. How do I reconcile the string theory I started this post off with, with the "universes are black holes in other universes" theory? Okay, maybe the mass falling in to a black hole builds up a lot of energy and maybe the stress of turning at right angles to the old home universe (causing all the strings that ever intersect with the event horizon to appear at one instant and at one point) causes enough of a primal vibration to make a unified field and a Big ass Bang! (Maybe?)

These are the things that go through my head on a daily basis.

What has this to do with magic and paganism? That's coming soon.

A Beautiful, If Stubborn, Lady

Sigh. I took Fire-Eyes to a walk-in clinic today (we finally got insurance in December, but getting a doctor to see her on short notice is another matter). She has been feeling bad for about two months, ever since Rhiannon was taken away from us. Turns out the stress she's been under combined with not taking care of her allergies caused some fluid to build up in her lungs. She has a case of walking pneumonia. This is, in some ways, a good thing. Now that we have proof that she's sick, she has to start taking it easy. I can legitimately yell at her to sit down and rest, and she might even listen to me!!! Yeah, she's that stubborn.

I love my wife. She is Chieftain of Clan of the Firery Moon, the mother of my child, the one who keeps our house from falling apart, a first responder, a trained barista, herbalist, gardener, landscaper, caterer, and business manager, my loving confidant, my perfect lover. And she worries that she doesn't do enough. I swear, I do try to help, but sometimes I get exhausted just watching her go.

Money Woes

Well, taking a day off work to help take care of my son while Fire-Eyes is sick. I just called the people handling my mortgage, rather the automatic bi-weekly payment on said mortgage. They said there was a problem with my bank and that they hadn't pulled any of the coming month's payment yet. We worked out the snafu and I told them I would get with my bank to make sure it didn't happen again. Then they tell me they'll have to pull the full month's payment this Friday, then half of the following month's next Friday. A mortgage payment takes almost a full week's pay, so things may be a little slim for the coming weeks.

Then there was the thing with the people installing my DirecTV. We ordered a two-room setup with TiVo on one receiver. A week later, UPS delivered two boxes to our door. In one box was everything we ordered (dish, 2 receivers, other miscellany to complete the order), in the other was everything we ordered AGAIN. We sent the second box back, but the nitwits that sent it say we have to pay a penalty for not activating our DirecTV service. I faxed them a DTV bill, and they still charged my credit card over $600. Take note: Orbitsat.com sucks. If you want to get a satellite system the future, avoid them at ALL costs!

So, now I'm off to the bank to make a car payment, straighten out the thing with the mortgage, and cancel a charge on my VISA. What a day.

Well, I'm about to start GMing a D&D game (oh, I role-play, too, by the way) this evening. The game will be changing into a more political one, using rules from Chris Aylott's Dynasties And Demagogues. I am so unprepared it's not funny. Well, okay. Maybe a little.

I just spent several hours sussing out why the capital city the heroes are avoiding wants the magical texts they recently recovered. And more recently destroyed.

Yet another thing I should detail in depth, but will have to wait. I'm feeding Sabastion with one hand while typing this with the other. He'll be a year old at the end of next month. :)

I am Czarzhan. A member of the Clan of the Firery Moon (yes, that's how "Firery" is supposed to be spelt in the name). The Clan was dedicated two years and a couple months ago as a way for individual pagan practitioners to be able to get together, learn from each other, party, and be able to attend festivals with backup.

Its purpose has grown since it began, but it hasn't changed that much. Lately, we've been trying to make plans for when the group grows beyond a couple handfuls of members. The basic idea if like an independent-study college with a social setup based on celtic society.

I'll go into more detail about that later, but one of the things that I need to develop is a functional philosophy for being a Technomage. One of the things I'll be putting into this blog is my idea of what "scientific mysticism" might be.

Another aspect of Entries will be tidbits of my life, as a husband, father, computer nerd, and contract worker in the United States Space Industry.

I hope you enjoy my blog. I also hope I can stick to it for a reasonable length of time.

Czarzhan