This screen shot from BBSpot Says it all.
Where have all the dimensions gone…
Scientists recently postulated once again that there may be more dimensions than the four with which we are familiar, one time and 3 space, in our universe. One of the drives for this is to find a “theory of everything”. A number of years ago it was postulated that we may have eleven, or even more dimensions. Of course all of this is to get the mathematics to fit physicists observations. All of this speculation led me to wonder what happens to all of these additional dimensions – I mean – they have to exist somewhere so if not in our existence where? Maybe this is where parallel universes occur. The surplus dimensions are not imaginary after all. For instance in those other dimensions you decided not to eat those oysters and thus had a relaxing evening at home instead of in the emergency room in the hospital. Or it may be something quite different. Whole worlds of other creatures live under physical laws that are completely different to our own. For instance, the extra time dimension may flow in reverse. If there was only one extra space dimension they may share two space dimensions with us. For instance instead of me being 5′ 11″ I may be a say 6′ 7″ basket baller. Or maybe they got it wrong and there are 11 dimensions. extra time and space for several parallel universes. There could conceivably be dimensions where time is in 3 dimensions and space is only 2 where there are a multitude of lines going round and round in time, much like a linear Ground Hog Day. The possibilities are endless. This is the sort of stuff that keeps me awake at night.
Another shift in the goal posts
This article about a law recently passed in Queensland that allowed for retrial under certain circumstances is yet another power shift away from the individual to the state.
That people do not understand the reason for protection against double jeopardy is indicated by the hysteria around the issue. What people do not realise is that we are handing yet more power to the state and biasing the judicial system away from the individual.
Movie Review – Michael Clayton
A few weeks ago I was wondering what ever happened to the suspense thriller. Wonder no more.
Michael Clayton is a legal Mr Fix-it for a law firm whose services are farmed out to whatever law firm requires them. His job is to find solutions for whatever tight legal difficulty they find them selves in, and he is very good at his job.
The movie follows several days in his life where he is faced with more than typical challenges.
At 2 hours this movie is just the right length with a precise balance of humour, suspense and plot, no so long to get stodgy but just long enough to explore the intracies of the plot without giving anything away. It is plot driven and executes the plot flawlessly with a very well crafted screen play.
The cinematography, score, casting and acting all come together brilliantly to make this one of the great modern suspense thrillers in the Hitchcock tradition.
One viewing is not enough and I will be going back for a second bite. This has become one of my rare five star movies.
Reason, common sense and the rest
I was reading a blog recently and the writer was discussing congnitive dissonence. This is where a person holds a quite an irational position and has no qualms with this irational position. In other words that person can hold two vastly opposing views in their mind without blinking an eyelid.
Let me give you a for instance. One of the reasons that the US invaded Iraq was that they tortured people. The US supreme court recently dismissed a case brought by a German citizen against the CIA for torture on the grounds of national security. Surely Sadam could have argued national security quite cogently? The primary reason that the US invaded Iraq was that it had weapons of mass destruction. Which country holds the geatest number of weapons of mass destruction? Now this is not the interesting part. There is a certain mindset amongst some US citizens that would argue that the above statements means that I think Israel should be wiped off the map. That I am disloyal to my own troops serving in Iraq. Further I have been told that when I express an opinion on US affairs that it is none of my business. In fact this is precicesly what the US supremem court did to the German citiizen who claimed to be
tortured by the CIA. In fact the US which was founded on the principle of equality has perpetrated some gross human rights violations against citizens of many countries for many years, not only since the tragic incidents on the 11th of September. That was just another excuse to perpetrata yet more human rights violations.
Unfortunately this is just another example of that wise statement “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The good news is that the power of the US will fade – the bad news is there will be yet another world empire to take its place that may have even more power and be even more corrupt.