NOW I KNOW MY A B C'S

OK, you want to know about EVERYTHING. Here's where I'd start: with NOTHING. Close your eyes and use your mind's eye and focus real hard on the total absence of STUFF. No Earth, no planets, no Sun, no anything. Just emptiness. After a while you'll see how limited our little human minds areeven yours. Even the very best empty Space you can picture has a viewing pointfrom which your consciousness is visualizing. And a viewing point is a place--a Something, as opposed to a Nothing. How's that for a starting point, huh, Buckaroo? Well, sir, Nature is like that. She's a doozy! My point is that our minds are no matchnot even closefor Nature. Nature's mind is like a sweetly humming thought machine that analyzes things spherically (from all angles instantaneously), and never coughs, sputters or much less breaks down. The human mind, on the other hand, is a primitive machine, which at its very best may hum in spurts, during which it can perform some rudimentary single- dimensional analysis. It is prone to shorts, misfires, glitches, brownouts and breakdowns. So: when we're looking at the Universe, we need to never forget that we are Earthlings. We're like a school of little bug-eyed goldfish in a little goldfish bowl sitting on the window-ledge of an apartment in New York City. We have tiny minds, and limited vantage points, and very limited life experiences to fall back on. The absolute- tops -very- best- A+ BlueRibbon level we can ever, ever hope for is to (accurately) grasp bits and pieces of how Nature works. If you went to the library and spent a couple of weeks sleuthing around, here is what you'd generate as far as the basic setup we Earthlings have inherited a stake in: 1) Space. The context, or setting,for Everything (a.k.a: the Universe) is: Nothing. It is the stage where Nature puts on the play of our Reality. Matter. We can lump together all of the stuff that we are capable of observing on that stage and simply call it Matter.

2)

If we keep our eyes open and our wits sharp, we'll eventually catch on to some of the basic traits of matter,such as: A. Gravity. All matter has a mutual attraction for other matter. Which leads to... clumps, which grow up to become... Spheres B. Motion. All Spheres are always in motion through Space.

C. Orbit . The motion of heavenly bodies is a unique, beautiful phenomenon we call ORBIT. Nature has never really gotten the recognition she deserves for coming up with the idea of Orbit. It is a sad state of affairs that our science books don't even have the right words to explain how Orbit works, such as:

Earth-motion: what Earthlings experience all their lives. Motion in a totally Gravity-controlled world, where the benchmark status (default setting) is stillness. Because all Earth-motion is naturally resisted by Earth-Gravity, every millimeter of horizontal Earthmotion is change--the result of work.

Space-motion: fundamentally different than Earth-motion. Something only heavenly bodies (such as suns, planets, satellites and astronauts) experience. Pure and unadulterated freedom from resistance-- or drag- or deflection of any kind. Once set in Spacemotion, a body will naturally keep moving at the same rate and in the same direction. Since there is no resistance to be overcome, this motion doesn't

require--or depleteany energy. Accordingly, the perpetuation of Space-motion is NOT change, & does NOT represent work being done.

Orbit-Rotation-motion: An advanced, very sophisticated kind of space-motion.

Same-ing: is the natural perpetuation of the existing state of affairs. There are different types of sameing: Earth-same-ing is what Earthly objects do naturally--when they are not messed with. (Earth-same-ing is perpetual stillness.)

Space-same-ing is what a heavenly body does when it is not messed with (Space-same-ing is perpetual continuation) Orbital-same-ing is what a heavenly body does when it is in orbit around a larger body. A marvelously clever variety of space-same-ing

Orbit is absolutely essentialnot just to our Solar System, but to our Universe. What it amounts to is a very, very special relationship a

particular lesser sphere enjoys with a particular larger sphere. It is a peace treaty by which the lesser sphere receives permanent immunity from being captured by the Gravity of the larger sphere. The primitive relationship between any two heavenly bodies is one of dominance / submission, or hunter / hunted. Which, when carried to its logical conclusion, leads to the Gravity of the larger body capturing the smaller, and appropriating its matter into its own: Space cannibalism Orbit is a much more advanced, more civilized relationship. Orbit is a sort of Treaty which replaces competition, or war, with a perpetual state of peaceful co-existence. Every orbit is different, and involves variations of the basic ingredients: the relative masses of the two bodies, their distance apart, the 3-dimensional plotting of the path, the set orbital speed, angle and direction, and the rotational speed, angle and direction.

Orbit is a RELATIONSHIP of Lasting Peaceful Co-existence between two heavenly bodies. It is what lets Earth exist as an (almost) independent heavenly body. She moves through Space at a constant, noninterfered-with speed, while rotating at a constant, non-interferedwith rate, but along a path that is interfered with. The greater body serves as a navigational BEACON for the lesser body. The precise level of intensity of Gravitational attraction needed to precisely steer a lesser body along a orbital path around a larger body is currently called micro-gravity. By which we mean a mutual

attraction much weaker than the Gravity intensity we Earthlings are used to (which translates into everything having an assigned weighta heaviness relative to the REST of our sphere). The Earth vs Sun Micro-gravity attraction, on the other hand, is just strong enough to alter Earth's course by a little less than 1 per day (since Earth makes a 360 circle in 365 days). Butand here's the really beautiful part-which is not strong enough to alter Earth's speed, up or down. Which is just as well. If she slowed down, Earth would soon find herself being the Sun's breakfast. And if she speeded up she would soon find herself heading off into deep, dark space, away from the Sun. Our primitive brains are conditioned to perceive all of the components of orbit as VARIABLES, based upon our Earthly experience. But the components of orbit, by definition, are PERPETUAL. There ARE no variables in an orbit. Get your mind around THAT. Wow! . Orbit is like that. The more you look into it, the cleverer it turns out to be. Oh, yes. One last little detail about orbit. The Sun happens to be in an orbital relationship-- with our Galaxy-- where it (Sun) is the lesser body. And in that relationship the Sun is sailing even faster through space than Earth is. But because of the nature of Space-sameness, the net effect of the Sun's Space-motion on both the Sun and the Earth is nil. None. Nada. One aspect of an orbital relationship is that the larger body serves as a dependable, solid, still, or same-ing base / reference point for the lesser body. In the lesser body's reality, the larger body is stationary. The larger body's perpetual motion is its same-ness, and represents the lesser body's stillness. Orbital Spacemotion is analogous to Earth-stillness. If that is confusingdon't feel like the Lone Ranger. It has confused some pretty widely respected dudes, like Newton, Einstein and Stephen Hawking, too. And before I forget it, I need to say that those who equate orbital space-motion to Earthly falling haven't properly thought things through. Orbiting is floatingnot falling. When an Earthling falls, he experiences his weight being sucked toward Earth's center of mass (down). A NASA shuttle does experience falling, but only during the re-entry stage. What the shuttle and its cargo experience during orbit is floating. Falling is by definitionthe result of being tugged on. It is one type of movement that takes place in a Gravity environment. Space, by definition is a non-Gravity-- and therefore a non-weight-- environment. So: to be in orbit is to float, not to fall. Might as well get it right. The Sun doesn't feel its Space-motion, and the Earth doesn't

feel her Space-motion, and the astronauts on a shuttle orbiting Earth don't feel their Space-motion, except as same-ing (absence of ). We Earthlings call the same-ness we experience stillness.

I hope you've got all of this. If not, we'll go back over it as many times as we need to . Because there's simply no point in going on until this is all clear to you. Otherwise you'll go off like a driver with a towel over his head.

All of this stuff is essential--part of the background you'll need if you're going to tackle the basic facts of Earthling life with nothing but an Earthling mind.

EARTH: So an intelligent definition of Earth begins with the fact that she is a lesser spherical heavenly body in an orbit relationship with the Sun. (Which means, not just incidentally, that an Earthling naturally doesn't feel the Sun's speed or rotation vs the Galaxy-- nor and this is a major point-- Earth's own speed or rotation vs the Sun.)

And the fact that she is spherical shows that she is massy enough to be the proprietor of her own Gravitational Field. Which means, not just incidentally, that Earth's Gravitational field includes-- but certainly is not limited to-- the hard substances of her surface. As far as Gravity is concerned, the air or atmosphere is just as much a part of Earth's surface as the mountains or the oceans. Even scientists sometimes forget that Gravity works on flying objects exactly as it does on objects in direct contact with the Earth's hard surface. Let's us not ever make that mistake, OK? And since Gravity is in charge, Earth is strictly a Law & Order place. Rule # 1 is Stay Put. Rule # 2 is: All horizontal movement requires the application of sufficient horizontal force to overcome the spherical resistance of Earth-Gravity. And since that resistance is exerted spherically, it is not just incidental, but rather is natural and fundamental, for objects moving horizontally to do so along a geodesic course. Rule #1 and Rule #2 are evident to any Earthling who is capable of observing and thinking. If you dig a hole in your back yard and fill it with water, and then sit down and observe ityou will observe your Earthly pool of water enjoying a perpetual state of perfect, beautiful (spherical) stillness. And if you happen to catch the reflection of the launching of a Space Shuttle there in the glossy surface of your little pool, it will remind you that-- even as it is roaring straight up off the launch pad, and as it goes higher and higher, faster and faster-- that ascending rocket is just as much under the Control of Earth-Gravity as you-- and the water in your beautiful little reflecting pool-- are.

When you can appreciate just what a beautiful phenomenon that is, you'll have a pretty good insight into the specialness of the place we call Earth. And you'll have arrived at a pretty good starting point for learning about everything else. ______________________________________________________________ _ This is the end of my start-up suggestions to any Earthling who is interested in knowing about everything. Because, just like life, learning is a journey. There is a direct correlation between a traveller's forethought and the experience he realizes.

The very first thing an intelligent traveler does is to get his / her bearings. Which starts with knowing where the heck you are. Now you know. Nothing you have just read is anything I have discovered, (although a lot of it is at odds with the long-accepted dogma of modern physics). Which, if you stop and think about it, is what heresy always isa new interpretation of old information. So those invested in the current institution of physics will cast aspersions &/or want to see me burned at the stake. So be it. That's on them. And this heresy is on me. That is the blessing and the curse of all heretics. They always mean well, and are driven by a compulsion to improve the intellectual

atmosphere, even at the risk of the rack, the dunking pond, and the fiery stake in the town square. My contributionmy sinful heresyis that I have done some thinking, then some sorting and rearranging of a few basic things man has long known about the basic setup of things in our Universe. It's a journey I've been on for the last 20+ years.