General discussion

The work of Albert Einstein and the ideas of Stephen Hawking differ when it comes to the even theoretical possibilities of time travel to the past. However, both points of view can be accommodated by invoking the concept of parallel worlds. It’s a case then of having your time travel cake and eating it too but without fear of creating a paradox tummy ache.

When it comes to the British crop circle phenomena, no explanation put forth makes any logical sense. The best of all the implausible explanations is the extraterrestrial intelligence one, but only on a scale of two out of ten because the rest don’t even rate that highly.

I’ll start this off with a controversial statement. I think the crop circle (or corn circle as it is sometimes referred to) phenomena is currently the greatest terrestrial scientific puzzle going – full stop.

The trouble here is that ‘the soul’ has so many diverse definitions that it can mean just about anything you want it to mean. Probably no two people would describe the concept in the exact same way. However, I think we can agree that an egg cell has no soul – however you define it. A sperm cell has no soul – however you define it. Therefore, at conception, you have no soul.

Is it possible to create time? If you accept the modern cosmological paradigm that’s exactly what happened 13.7 billion years ago. If you accept that, was the creation of time a once only creation or is the creation of time occurring even as you read this? Or, is the whole idea of literally creating time something only those smoking the good stuff could conceive of, while those of a less befuddled mind view as total bovine fertilizer? It’s the latter IMHO, or should be.

When you think of extraterrestrials, you probably think of ET, Mr. Spock, Klaatu, Yoda, Klingons and Romulans, the Blob, Martians with heat rays, Alien vs. Predator, the Sontarans, or perhaps the ‘Greys’ of UFO lore. However, if you really had an extraterrestrial close encounter of the up-close-and-personal kind, I’d wager the odds are far greater that you’d be shaking ‘hands’ with something more akin to Robby the Robot.

You’re not going to like this, but the odds are uncomfortable high that your physical reality isn't physical at all, but virtual. In other words, you don’t exist with the substance and structure you think you exhibit. Even though you might play various simulation or video games, you in turn are being played, or at least programmed, by persons or things unknown. So here is the Simulation Hypothesis, otherwise known as the Simulated (Virtual Reality) Universe scenario, in review:

We've all heard the expression about dreaming one’s life away, but what if were literally true. That is, life really is but a dream; you don’t die and go to some kind of afterlife, assuming there’s an afterlife of course, but on your dream deathbed you actually awake and awake into a new really awake reality, which you can call an ‘afterlife’ if you wish.

“You Only Live Twice,
Or So It Seems.
One Life for Yourself,
And One for Your Dreams.”

(Theme Song from the Movie "You Only Live Twice": Music by John Barry; Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse)

Black Holes have a certain aura about them. They are associated, in the minds of the general populace, with a certain mystique or ultra-mystery about them – terrifying objects that gobble up everything within range – the ultimate devourer, doomsday machine, berserker and weapon of mass destruction (if you could figure out how to manipulate one of course) all rolled into one. But Black Holes have other aspects about them that are equally fascinating, and not really all that weird, though some bits are weirder than others. But you don’t have to be a geek to come to terms with these concepts.

When it comes to the ancient civilizations in the Americas, well the Amerindians like the Anasazi at Mesa Verde come to mind; even more so the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayans. But perhaps the most interesting of all, a culture that normally registers on the peripheral vision of our knowledge of all things Mesoamerican, is that of the Olmecs. Olmec society, civilization and culture is famous for several things: their mysterious origins and demise; their obsession with jade; their cult of the Were-Jaguar; and last, but not least, those monumental ‘African’ stone head carvings.

In our solar system, the planets are divided between the inner terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars and of course the Earth) and the outer gas giants, collectively called the Jovian planets (after Jupiter, but including Saturn, Uranus and Neptune), which along with their many moons form the Jovian system. Since it’s easier to look in our own planetary backyard neighbourhood first for alien life, there’s been much speculation about what pieces of solar system real estate, if any, might be suitable abodes for extraterrestrial life.