A Tree, An Apple, A Wineskin...

Just what exactly did our Forerunners think they were doin'?
The story we heard growing up about our progenitors, Adam and Eve, is quite hackneyed, so here is a fresh take on an old rabbi's wive's tale.

In the Biblical account Eve 'tempted' Adam with the 'forbidden fruit', one 'bad apple', and got us all deftly kicked out of Eden--thanks to her sweet tooth!

The Quran does not lay the blame squarely on Eve's shoulders since both Adam and Eve are equally accountable for not having heeded God's warning to stay away from just that one 'tree'.

7 Al-A'raf (The Heights, The Unique Celestial Event A'raf, Aaraaf)

وَيَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ فَكُلاَ مِنْ حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلاَ تَقْرَبَا هَـذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ 7:19

7:19 And, O Adam! (First Human Being), you and your wife (are to) dwell in this garden; so eat (partake of it), both of you, whatever you may wish (desire); but do not approach (come near) this one tree, lest you become (of those who are) oppressors (unjust; inflict strife)!"

The Garden mentioned is the first one, Paradise or Eden, and it conveys many good things. First, that it is protected; the word ‘garden’ derives from Old English meaning ‘enclosure’ and in a similar manner both the Iranian and Greek sources mean ‘to make or form a wall around’. By extension, the Hebrew word for the Garden was ‘Eden,’ meaning ‘pleasure, delight’, and the Ugaritic sense for ‘dn, an added etymology, means ‘a well-watered place.’ Among the many other good things about this Garden was that it had ‘trees.’

In earlier posts trees were discussed as metaphors pertaining to chemistry. But trees can denote a host of other things to convey other meaningful ideas. The primary definition for tree is that of a woody perennial having a main stem and subsidiary branches and in this form it provides many direct uses such as fruits for food, flowers, lumber for shelter, and plays a central role in the O2/CO2 cycle. But 'tree' can also mean something that shows hierarchy; a supporting structure; a fixed source; as a transitive verb, it can mean to put someone in a difficult position; in material science, it refers to crystalline growth (especially in metals); and in computer applications, it refers to a data structure wherein every element has only 1 single predecessor except for the first element, which has none, and is called the 'root'.

Important to the message in Sign 7:19 is not only to avoid one said 'tree' but the reason for such avoidance is that it would cause our happy couple to become oppressors, unjust, and inflict strife; in other words, they would no longer be 'content' (Lat., contentus –contained, satisfied) to stay within the Garden.

Language is an integral part of the human experience, by articulating something--be it verbally, visually, or musically, etc.--we reinforce our perception of what we believe is our Reality. So, the saying 'root of all evil' is an interesting Jungian reference to the Genesis story about ‘gardens’ and 'trees', ‘apples’ and 'temptation', 'evil' and the loss of the Edenic (perfected) original state of being 'content'. Basically, this one phrase sums up the whole ball of wax about human experience; by alluding to a once perfect human state blissfully content to remain in the protected enclosure of the Garden and ascribing a basis for its loss consequent to one fateful act to partake of the one thing that ought to have been avoided. Amazing what four little words can do.

As mentioned in an earlier post, 'World War What?,' the Latin words for 'apples' and 'evils' are homophones--'mala,' and it is worthwhile to mention that, once upon a time, evil did not conjure up all sorts of demons but used to mean 'ills', 'badly', 'wrong'; expressing a not-so-perfect state--a state of 'malcontent'; or a deterioration from a wholesome/healthy state to a lower/diseased condition—a malady. The ‘fruit’ that brought about this evil did not of necessity have to be an apple, either, just the ‘product, sweet, result, or end’ of what that one ‘tree’ produced.

By the same token, Satan, who instigated the problem of malcontent, has its root found in s t n to mean someone who opposes, obstructs or acts the part of the adversary; not some creepy-crawly that possesses malnourished maidens; those later constructs probably due to the human propensity toward creativity. But Satan is credited as the leading cause to bring about the disease/malady/malcontent that cost our Garden denizens their Birthplace Address.

And Satan is a character that contends with God when it comes to having to serve or be subservient to humans. Central to Satan’s argument is that God created Satan of better stuff than the mere ‘sounding clay’ that constituted Adam, and his pride about his finer mettle sets him up to be the human adversary when he is commanded to ‘bow’ down to Adam and he refuses to lower himself. Not doing as God commanded Satan is immediately lowered from his existing finer state and he sets out to prove his point that Adam (Humanity) is truly not worthy of his adoration. Satan is not an Angel, but is considered Jinn, another form of creation that preceded Human creation, but came some time after God had already created Angels. Angels are comprised of ‘Light’, Jinn of a ‘Smokeless Fire’, and Humans of ‘Sounding Clay’ or of ‘That Which Clings (Embryos).’

And then there is that naughty 'tree' (Lat., arbor) that produced the forbidden 'fruit' ('sweet', 'result', 'final product,' 'end'); a 'bad apple', or some say pomegranate; which became the 'root' (Lat., radic-) of all the 'evil' that ensued.

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise is an allegory, or similitude, that attempts to explain or account for why our human state is not perfect since we expect a Perfect God to make a Perfect Creation. Some of the confusion revolves around our not having a very good handle as to the true nature of our own Creation.


Surah 56 Al-Waqi'a (The Final Outcome)
إِذَا وَقَعَتِ الْوَاقِعَةُ 56:1
لَيْسَ لِوَقْعَتِهَا كَاذِبَةٌ 56:2
خَافِضَةٌ رَّافِعَةٌ 56:3
إِذَا رُجَّتِ الْأَرْضُ رَجًّا 56:4
وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا 56:5
فَكَانَتْ هَبَاء مُّنبَثًّا 56:6
وَكُنتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلَاثَةً 56:7

56:1 WHEN the (Expected) Event (Outcome) Comes to Pass (Happens)
56:2 There will not be any to deny (lie) it Happened
56:3 Abasing, Exalting (Lowering, Raising)
56:4 When the Earth is Jolted with a Jolt
56:5 And the Mountains Are Pounded to Powder,
56:6 To Become (as) Scattered Dust
56:7 And you were 3 Pairs (Triad?)

Understanding Sign 56:7 provides pivotal insight into some of the mystery surrounding the Human Creation; one might say it is the Crux of the ‘matter’. There is no doubt that the 'you' mentioned is each and every one of us. That we are created in pairs, or have matching companions or dual nature is mentioned throughout the Quran; but in this one instance, that I could find, it is very clear that each one of us is part of 3 pairs or 3 duals; it is only a guess on my part that it could also mean a complementary triad, but that is only a guess.



{To gain some insight as to how this might work, consider the lithograph 'Relativity' by M.C. Escher, wherein there are 3 perpendicular earth-planes intersecting; the inhabitants have common use of the stairs, yet it is not possible for them to live on the same floors since they each have different perspectives of horizontal and vertical surfaces.}

Classically, 56:7 is interpreted to mean being divided into 3 groups, but the language is very specific in its use of the word for couples/pairs/dual complements (أَزْوَاجًا). If 56:7 is to be taken literally, the nature of our human form is such that we are each a single element comprising a set of 3 couples. What is of further interest is the form of the verb 'to be' is past tense; that we each 'were' a part of this sextet while the Event alluded to is happening. In addition, while the Event appears to be cataclysmic on some level, Ayeh 56:3 foreshadows a type of segregation or sorting out that occurs as a result of it (lowering and raising; kind of like what happens when you distill something).

Signs 56:4-56:6 may be referring to **earthquakes**, but there is human activity associated with this type of phenomenon as well--that is mining, particularly as in mountain top removal for coal mining; there would be a jolt, the mountain would turn to powder and then the dust would be scattered. This is on topic since coal is made of carbon, and there is a reference to the number 6 in that we each comprise a sextet, and it just so happens that the Atomic Number for Carbon is 6 ; and carbon forms the basis of all organic life forms found on Earth. Still not convinced there is a God? All this embedded info in the Quran just happened by accident? (**Insights pertaining to earthquakes in a later post in order not to digress too far from the main topic here**).

As an aside, for those of us having difficulty getting our heads around our
comprising a set of 6, this explanation pertaining to perception might help
explain it: “If you draw a picture of (a playground) scene and try to make
it look realistic, you will make some of your people appear substantially
smaller than others. That is, you deliberately
distort in order that the picture will look ‘right’.-- from
'The Golden Mean' by Charles F. Linn

So, our nature might be such that being a part of a sextet would allow for this type of distortion from the perspective of an Outside Observer (hmmm, wonder Who that could be?)

Later, in Chapter 56, it goes into some detail to explain the result of this separation; and each group of 'Companions' is referred to specifically with respect to their physical location-- which on a secondary level may coincide with their disposition (or character): (I hope you all like flying and sailing, or, as pertaining to my case, auto-marin-airing)...
فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ 56:8

وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ 56:9

وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ 56:10

56:8 The Starboard Companions, what of the Starboard Companions?
56:9 The Larboard Companions, what of the Larboard Companions?
56:10 And The Foremost Forerunners? (The Leading Precedents, The Harbingers Closest to the Front, The Leading Precursors, i.e., 'The Apparent Leads', 'Those Foreshadowing the Things To Come'; ‘Ancients’...)

You and your 'companion', whether you have met or not, occupy these positions, whether you are aware of them or not. According to Signs 56:8-56:10 you have 3 levels of existence, not only in the Space-Time continuum, but in condition as well, those being: the Good (On the Right), the Bad (On the Left), and the Exemplary (At The ‘Bow’, Closest to the Front).
I don't recall that the exact idenity of the forbidden fruit is actually ever revealed to be an apple. The only moniker it is ever given is that of it being called 'zaquum', which is not any fruit we have come to identify as yet. Perhaps because the word 'zaquum' is the adjective form or can serve as the plural form of the known word for wineskin, 'zaq'. This tree is linked to something having to do with wineskins. A process that usually involves drying, waterproofing or sealing, and then tanning animal hides.

لَآكِلُونَ مِن شَجَرٍ مِّن زَقُّومٍ 56:52

56:52 They (Larboard side companions) shall taste (eat/partake of) the Tree of Zaquum

Traditionally, wineskins were made from goat skin that was dried then coated with pitch to make it impermeable or waterproof. Pitch refers to any of a number of viscous, solid resins extracted mainly from pine and juniper trees . While nowadays pitch can be made from petroleum products, traditionally it had been derived from trees. Petroleum-derived pitch is called bitumen and pitch produced from plants is known as resin. Purified at very high temperatures, it was used for waterproofing for the inside of tanned skins used as wineskins.
Incidentally, pitch and bitumen have associations with the state we call 'Hell.'

The tanning process derives from the use of tannins, usually extracted from tree bark such as pine, Holm oak, ink plants or, most commonly nowadays, mimosa. The main purpose of tanning is to convert the skin into an inorganic product so that it does not rot. Tanning also lends body to the skin, while leaving the pores soft.

Tannins precipitate proteins and chelate metal ions. Pomegranates have a wide variety of tannins, nutritionally making them a good source of antioxidants, but overconsumption may lead to anemia in sensitive individuals due to tannins effectively leaching iron ions from hemoglobin.

Maybe that's what happened to Eve; she developed a taste for such a fruit and succumbed to its ill/evil health effects. At which point, she would not have had to tempt Adam to eat it; her describing a new found novel condition to him may have led Adam to see for himself what she was on about. I can't think of anything worse than a long protracted illness to make someone any more malcontent. At which point, they didn't need God to send them any lower, they sank themselves. But the effect was probably not just physical but mental/psychological since it altered their perception/innocence.

I like to think it was inadvertent. Eve may have simply been unaware of her repeated contact/proximity to the tree that may have exuded something of its complex tannins, terpenes, what have you; and unwittingly suffered some negative effect as a result leading Adam to investigate and suffer the same outcome.

That the exposure or partaking was involuntary is alluded to here:

7:27 يَا بَنِي آدَمَ لاَ يَفْتِنَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ كَمَا أَخْرَجَ أَبَوَيْكُم مِّنَ الْجَنَّةِ يَنزِعُ عَنْهُمَا لِبَاسَهُمَا لِيُرِيَهُمَا سَوْءَاتِهِمَا إِنَّهُ يَرَاكُمْ هُوَ وَقَبِيلُهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لاَ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا الشَّيَاطِينَ أَوْلِيَاء لِلَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ (7:27)يَا بَنِي آدَمَ لاَ يَفْتِنَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ كَمَا أَخْرَجَ أَبَوَيْكُم مِّنَ الْجَنَّةِ يَنزِعُ عَنْهُمَا لِبَاسَهُمَا لِيُرِيَهُمَا سَوْءَاتِهِمَا إِنَّهُ يَرَاكُمْ هُوَ وَقَبِيلُهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لاَ تَرَوْنَهُمْ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا الشَّيَاطِينَ أَوْلِيَاء لِلَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ

7:27 O Children of Adam! Do not allow Satan to seduce you as he caused your Forerunners (Parents) to be exiled from the Garden and tore off from them their rainment (mantle of innocence) that he might manifest their shame to them. Verily, he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you cannot see him. Truly, We have made the devils forerunner (parents) of those who do not believe.

Let's see what else Quran has to say about this troublesome tree:

37 As-Saffat (The Array/Matrix, Those Arranged In Rank)
أَذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ نُّزُلًا أَمْ شَجَرَةُ الزَّقُّومِ 37:62

37:62 Is that good 'boarding' (being greeted with Peace!) or the tree of al-zak-um (wineskins)

إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهَا فِتْنَةً لِّلظَّالِمِينَ 37:63

37:63 Truly, We created it (the Tree of Zakuum, as a) Sedition/Spellbinding/Mezmerising/Rabble-Rousing (thing) for the wrongdoers (oppressors/malcontents)

طَلْعُهَا كَأَنَّهُ رُؤُوسُ الشَّيَاطِينِ 37:65

37:65 Its fruits are like heads of devils

Anyone know of any 2-horned fruit? I can think of something that may be derived from a tree that has a molecular structure that looks like the devil's head, but no fruit comes to mind. Here's one possible suggestion (a benzene ring with 2 Radicals--get it 2 'roots of all evil' which can probably make you very sick; not recommended for consumption--this being simply a mental excercise for me to keep my mind off headaches and nausea and their b$%#s$%#;):












Pthalic Acid can look like a devil's head, too:





Since the heads are plural, quite possibly the material under discussion may be a multiple chain of these types of molecules. Some people take issue with the following Sign:

4 Nisa (Women)
4:79 مَّا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍ فَمِنَ اللّهِ

وَمَا أَصَابَكَ مِن سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِن نَّفْسِك

وَأَرْسَلْنَاكَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولاً وَكَفَى بِاللّهِ شَهِيدًا

4:79 What ever good touches you comes from God, and whatever bad touches you comes from yourself; and we sent you to humanity as a Messenger and God suffices as your Witness.


But experience tells us that in fact most of the evil or bad things that befall us are a consequence of our own actions; often for the simple reason that we fail to think far enough ahead. For example, the material under discussion here is readily found in nature and serves a specific purpose, it is only when people manipulate it without careful planning or for malicious intent that it can and sometimes does become harmful. Contextually, this would imply that whatever bad befalls us, may not be our own personal actions of doing or undoing but that of other human beings doing unwarranted things to us and each other--so that 'you' is reflective of Humanity's Action(s) rather than God doing the hurting.

Compare and contrast intentions for using such substances as the ones suggested here vs the mission of say the US Army Chemical Corp. This Corp had in the past sported a branch insignia that also resembled a devil's head. How do its current crest icons of the tree's and the dragon's significance compare in contrast to what trees mean here? {If you are really paying attention what can you say about the color scheme for these icons and that of the Maxie Time book cover; how does it compare to the colors on the Waxie sanitary supply trucks?}


The conclusion of this investigation being that this substance, or classs of substances, are or will be around in a prevalent manner that the unfortunate 'Larboard side' companions are made to imbibe enough of it to fill their bellies; it causes a boiling sensation, insatiable thirst, and other undesirable side effects. Yes, it sounds like punishment doled out, but where is everyone's sense of compassion? The Larboard side occupants are just another form of you! And if someone out there gets what this is all about, maybe this is their chance to do some Good.


31 Luqman (The Prophet Luqman)
يَا بُنَيَّ أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَانْهَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَاصْبِرْ عَلَى مَا أَصَابَكَ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ 31:17


31:17 “(My dear) son! Establish (regular) prayer, and enjoin the doing of what is right (good) and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and patiently endure whatever may arise for you; of a certainty, these intentions matter (these are the best intentions)!”

7 Al-A'raf (Aaraaf)

7:188 ...وَلَوْ كُنتُ أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ لاَسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِيَ السُّوءُ … …

7:188 …had I known the Unseen I would have amassed goodness (done an abundance of good) and nothing bad would have touched me…

Area 51 Revisited

On Horticulture, Chemistry, Pharmacology, And Medicine

As mentioned in my previous post, this is the follow-up installment to Frieze Groups and Fish, about Vegetables or Plants in general:

Some say Luqman was a Prophet, others believe he was simply a Holy Man worthy of mention in the Quran (an entire Surah is named for him, so he deserves some consideration). He was known to be highly insightful, undertanding the inner workings (mystery) of things, especially plants and medicine (Ayurveda); he was thought to have lived far beyond a normal human lifespan and propounded thoughtful advice to his son.

An anonymous comment from a visitor to apageinthelife alludes to him/her being generally more than unhappy with the way things are around here, and expresses their displeasure with everything including war, politics, environment, just about all of it; and then concludes that if aliens do exist why haven't they taken him/her 'off this rock' already.

I take it they must feel rather alone/deserted/stranded and for those ETs stranded right along with him/her, the Quran can serve as a very handy Field Survival Guide. As to the reason why things appear to be moving at such a glacial pace, I reminded my visitor that if things move any faster than that, people have a habit of abusing/disusing valuable information, and that is what is at the heart of Revelation being just that, a gradual unfolding; to be understood at the proper time for the most appropriate purpose; and ultimately to 'earn your wings' and appreciate the Source that gave them to you; otherwise you'll just run amok all over the Universe(s).

18 Al-Kahf (The Cave, about Time Travel/Time Perception)

(18:54) وَلَقَدْ صَرَّفْنَا فِي هَذَا الْقُرْآنِ لِلنَّاسِ مِن كُلِّ مَثَلٍ وَكَانَ الْإِنسَانُ أَكْثَرَ شَيْءٍ جَدَلًا

18:54 We have given detailed explanations in this Quran, for the BENEFIT of humanity; every kind of similitude: but man is, in most things, contentious (bound to use it to their detriment).

51 Surah 51 Az-Zariyat (Those That Scatter/Disburse/Disperse)

(51:55) وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ الذِّكْرَى تَنفَعُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(51:55) So teach (remind) (the Message) as TEACHING (the reminding) benefits the Believers.

31 Luqman (The Prophet Luqman)

(31:10) خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍ تَرَوْنَهَا وَأَلْقَى فِي الْأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَن تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ
وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَأَنبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ كَرِيمٍ

31:10 He (God) created the heavens without any pillars that you can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, so it does not shake with you; and He scattered throughout it beasts (creatures) of all kinds. And We send down rain (water) from the sky, to produce in it (on the earth) every kind of pair ( زَوْجٍ conjunction/conjugate/complement), noble ( كَرِيمٍ precious, valuable).

Given Luqman and his affinity to Medicine and Pharmacology we can apply this Sign to what else we really could be doing with cigarettes or tobacco.

The Nightshade family gives us (among other things) The Humble Eggplant and The Mighty Tobacco Plant.

Some values in Eggplant are: 4-Desmethylsterols, 4-methylsterols and triterpene alcohols (from its seeds); and 14α-methyl-5α-cholest-9(11)-en-3β-ol (from its oil). Eggplant seeds also contain nicotine since it is related to Tobacco and this may be why it can be considered as its complement.

In a similar fashion, Tobacco properties include: (S)-3-(1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)pyridine (formula C10H14N2) ; alternate names 1-methyl-2-(3-pyridyl)pyrrolidine; ß-pyridyl-alpha-N-methylpyrrolidine.

I picked an example that is way out of my depth but the thinking is if one makes you sick, it stands to reason that the other one (or a close relative) was created to make you better.

Given how unique 14α-methyl-5α-cholest-9(11)-en-3β-ol is to eggplant's oil what would be its affect on other lipids? Anything special about lipids found in cancer cells?--maybe I can read about it some day to make up for all the bad news I read in a day.

Any chemist will tell you that there is a similarity between molecular structure and horticulture and that is why it's only fitting to talk about trees and branches when describing how to go about making a chemical substitution. The term 'word' here describes any substance that is being substituted onto the underlying structure (or tree).

14 Ibrahim (Abraham)

(14:24) أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللّهُ مَثَلاً كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاء

(14:24) Do you see (Can you see) how God strikes for you an example, that a good word is like a good tree with an excellent fixed origin (firmly rooted) and its subsidiaries (branches) reaching to the Sky (upward, as a plane of reference; yes! chirality--right hand rule and all that.)

There is a similar allegory about a 'bad word', and basically substituting it would make the tree structure unstable (torn up from its roots) and that's not the direction we want to go (unless the intention is to do away with such an unwanted growth).

14 Ibrahim (Abraham)
وَمَثلُ كَلِمَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ كَشَجَرَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ اجْتُثَّتْ مِن فَوْقِ الأَرْضِ مَا لَهَا مِن قَرَارٍ 14:26

(14:26) And the similitude of a malicious word is like a bad tree, it is uprooted from the surface of the Earth, lacking stability (unable to endure).

The word خبيث  khabith, means 'malignant', and associated connotations include: 'virulent,' 'pestilent,' 'poisonous,' 'toxic,' and bad as well as meaning 'catty', 'sly,' 'evil,' and 'malicious.' 

In Sign 14:26 the word is used to describe both the 'word' and the 'tree' itself as being malicious or malignant.  

The inference for our purposes here, let's say designing a way to 'winkle out', 'pry' or 'remove something that is difficult to extract', or 'force it out of  its rooted position', would be to substitute the like onto it.

The description of such an extrication is given by the word 'اجْتُثَّتْ' 'ajtaththe', meaning to be 'uprooted,'-- 'rip', 'eradicate', and in a similar wise 'wipe out.' 

The similitude is if a cell is genetically cancerous, to substitute the same type of 'malignant' fractal of it onto the structure or tree itself--metaphorically, a new take on 'like dissolves like'--leads to its own dissolution or destruction.

And Sign 14:26 also describes what the desired mechanism entails, that such a 'malicious tree' (see mal- malus) will no longer be 'stable'. Other connotations indicate that attaching such a 'word' onto such a 'tree' makes it 'indeterminate' or lack the ability to be 'decisive'--it will no longer have the ability to 'make the judgment or deliverance' on how to 'repeat' like in a 'chorus refrain' (by extension 'reproduce' or 'duplicate', 'double').

All of the above nuances are rooted in the phrase itself, 'ma laha min qrarin'  مَا لَهَا مِن قَرَارٍ.

--Oh, and I didn't forget: If you ever find yourself in the old neighborhood, remember to say hello to the eggplants for me.--

The Sun, The Moon, And The Truth

"Three things cannot be long hidden; the Sun, the Moon, and the Truth."--Buddha
It seems only natural to adjoin earlier posts about Time Perception (how we experience Time on Earth) with a post or two about the Celestial Clock Mechanism. In our Solar System it is comprised of Heavenly objects like the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars and the Zodiac/Constellations. Surahs titled for such objects include 53 (Stars/Revelation), 54 (Moon), 85 (Constellations), 91 (Sun), and 86 (Piercing Star/Sirius).

The timing couldn't be better for this discourse since on Friday, November 13, 2009 NASA announced that there is definitely water on the Moon. The news came subsequent to the LCross Mission satellites impacting Cabeus crater on October 9, and the analysis of the resulting plume.

It was reported that the water is present in significant amounts at the Lunar south pole, enough to encourage serious thoughts of establishing a viable Moon Base in the future. This is not the first time the Moon had been 'split' as previous manned missions brought back Moon fragments. It can also be said that each time the Moon is impacted with a meteor or meteorite the Moon is 'split.' But it would seem that the splitting by man-made events is the more significant indicator of the approaching 'Hour' since it is less common and therefore more remarkable; and probably the reason 'splitting' the Moon is mentioned in Chapter 54 The Moon as a noteworthy event.

54 Al Qmar (The Moon)
54:1 اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ
وَإِن يَرَوْا آيَةً يُعْرِضُوا وَيَقُولُوا سِحْرٌ مُّسْتَمِرٌّ 54:2
وَكَذَّبُوا وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءهُمْ وَكُلُّ أَمْرٍ مُّسْتَقِرٌّ 54:3

54:1 The Hour approaches and the Moon Split.
54:2 And if they see a Sign, they object and say, “An ever-recurring delusion!” –
54:3 And they deny it and follow their own whims. But every Matter is Proved (finally).

Chapter 91 The Sun, pays poetic hommage to the Star at the center of our Solar system. The Sun is commemorated in a 15 line (Sign) verse having a consistent rhyme scheme at each line's end, (the feminine 'it' form, هَا sound 'ha'). The Sun's Duality is acknowledged in the telling by the use of the homophones 'Brightness' and 'Victims'; the Sun's Brightness reminding of its light/life-giving nature and the word Victims relating to the Sun's infernal quality. The 'ha' chain rhyme not only appears at the end of each of the first 10 lines of the verse shown below but continues throughtout the entire 15 Signs (Ayat) of the Chapter (Surah). (Such that in the chain rhyme ha-ha-ha-... the 'ha' sound is repeated 15 times--Is God Laughing?).

The first 4 lines mention some of the attributes of the Sun--that it is bright, the Moon follows it, it lights the Day, the Night covers its light. The next3 lines resolve to have us consider the Force behind not only the Creation of the Sun, but the Heavens, the Earth, The Soul, and the Soul's Perfection; as well as giving due consideration for the Soul being embued with a propensity toward both Good and Evil. The next 2 Signs point out that there is an expectation or responsibility to magnify the Good in each Soul thereby leading to Success; but should the Soul be stunted by developing its propensity for the Bad it would lead to Failure.

The Sun becomes the metaphor for the Soul and its Success or Failure. For example, Success is like Sunlight, Failure claims Victims. The Moon, or that which Reflects the Sunlight, becomes the metaphor for those who follow such examples of Success or Failure. The Day, which manifests the Sun's presence, is a metaphor for the Outcome of a Soul that is developed for the Good versus the kind of Day you get with bias towards the Bad. In a similar fashion the Night, covering or veiling the Day, is a metaphor that some of the time Results or Outcomes may be secreted or hidden. But given that Night passes into Day, the inference is that all that is hidden eventually comes to Light; just as the Sun is always present whether we see it or not. This last Truth echoes 54:3 in that every matter is Proved or shows itself for what it really is in the final analysis.

91 Ash-Shams (The Sun)
91:1 وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا
وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا 91:2
وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّاهَا 91:3
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَاهَا 91:4
وَالسَّمَاء وَمَا بَنَاهَا 91:5
وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا 91:6
وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا 91:7
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا 91:8
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّاهَا 91:9
وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّاهَا 91:10

91:1 The Sun and its Brightness (Victims)
91:2 And The Moon that Follows (it)
91:3 And by the Morning that Lights (by it)
91:4 And the Night that Covers (it)
91:5 And by the Sky and Who.What.How (it is) Built
91:6 And the Earth and by Whom.How.What Expanded (stretched/spread/flattened it)
91:7 And Soul and Who Perfected it (And by the Self and the Other)
91:8 And Inspired it with Piety and Injustice
91:9 As such he who Purifies it Succeeds
91:10 And likewise he who Abases it Fails

{I'll have to come back to 85 The Constellations since it seems I can't help but take this one personally...It appears I put this off long enough so I finally got around to deciphering 85 Al-Buruj today (12.17.2009)}

The poetic plural for the word Towers and Zodiac is the same word الْبُرُوجِ 'al-buruj'. The primary meaning of the noun السَّمَاء al-sma’ is Skies, however the adjective 'sma' means ascent or Ascension. Classical interpretation of 85:1 is taken to mean the Skies and their associated Horoscopes; but here we can show that the secondary meaning ‘The Ascent or Ascension Towers’ is just as valid.

All the words in line 85:1 and their connotations taken together refer to what we now call Sky Scrapers, considering sky+ascent+soaring+tower+zodiac (since Sky Scrapers afford a viewing deck for watching the night sky and its constellations). But so as not to overlook those who are genuinely enrapt with watching the Skies, this is also referring to how the Constellations relate the Ascension…

Sign 85:2 mentions ‘The Appointed Day’ which throughout the Quran is understood to mean the Day of Judgment; but breaking this down to its components, 85:2 is also specifying a date and time for an Appointment or Rendezvous (Classic Movie Buffs can probably name the Romantic Comedy where the couple finally meet at the top of the Empire State Building…)

The Witness and what is Being Witnessed or Testified to in 85:3 can be understood given any of the following meanings for the word
َشَاهِدٍ Witness: n. witness, evidence, telltale, text, attestation; v. view, sight, see; adv. ‘to the best of my belief’
And the subject of the Witness is any possible meaning of the word َمَشْهُودٍ 'Mashhood': n. scenery, perspective, point of view, prospect, panorama, outlook, spectacle, what is seen or sighted.

The same word for Kill or Killed قُتِلَ is an idiomatic expression for ‘accursed,' meaning that either something is ‘hateful’ or ‘horrible’ and thus incurring or enduring the effects of a curse. The word أَصْحَابُ 'as.haab' typically means sidekicks or companions, as well as those who employ/own/or use something. And الْأُخْدُودِ 'al-khadood' is usually taken to mean grooves, pits or gulleys; but it is also the plural of خْدُدِ 'khad.d', meaning 'Spline'.

There are many applications for a Spline, the basic thing is a slat, but in designing airplanes, boats and cars, before computers took the field, a spline was a shape made from metal, wood or rubber that helped designers draw smooth curves. In later applications it came to also mean functions or algorithms used to smooth out statistical data and graphs. In mechanics, a spline is a key that has grooves in it that fits into a chamber to make it operate. Spline keys typically have grooves in them so this feature along with the secondary meaning for spline make for the understanding 'those using splines or spline keys.'

In the historical context 85:4 is calling our attention to the Believers who were basically made to pay the ultimate price for their convictions by suffering through being thrown into a pit or gully and set on fire; Abraham himself was said to have been put through just such an ordeal.

Considering 85:4 in its entirety we may be given to understand that those carrying out these torments ‘the companions of the pits or gulleys’ are abhorrent accursed creatures or literally they are ‘killed.’ By extension it would appear those employing any spline or spline key in a manner that harms the Believers are also accursed and/or killed.

85:5-85:6 Simply state that the Fire is Fueled while they Sat or Presided over it. Meaning both while the 'companions of the pits/gulleys presided over' and were lighting fires they themselves became the Fuel for the Fire they were attending. The word قُعُودٌ ‘qa’d’ means to sit/preside/ or tend to but the root قُعُدٌ also means the basis, or fundament of a thing. The big picture seems to imply that while those persecuting others sat around setting fires to the Believers they were at the same time unwittingly making themselves fuel for the fire and incurring their own doom.

85 Al-Buruj (The Constellations/Zodiac)
85:1 By the Heavens Coupled (Fixed) with Constellations__ وَالسَّمَاء ذَاتِ الْبُرُوجِ 85:1
85:2 And the Promised Day ___________________وَالْيَوْمِ الْمَوْعُودِ 85:2
85:3 And the Witness and What Is Witnessed___________ وَشَاهِدٍ وَمَشْهُودٍ 85:3
85:4 Accursed are the Companions of the Pit___________ قُتِلَ أَصْحَابُ الْأُخْدُودِ 85:4
85:5 The Fire Kindled___________________ ____النَّارِ ذَاتِ الْوَقُودِ 85:5
85:6 While they tended over it__________________إِذْ هُمْ عَلَيْهَا قُعُودٌ 85:6
85:7 And they stood Witness over what they did to the

Believers_______________________________85:7 وَهُمْ عَلَى مَا يَفْعَلُونَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ شُهُود
85:8 And no wrong had they done but they Believed in God

The Mighty, The Praiseworthy__________________85:8 وَمَا نَقَمُوا مِنْهُمْ إِلَّا أَن يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ

85:9 To Whom Belongs the Dominion over the Heavens and Earth

and God Is Witness Over Everything__________________85:9 الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

Surah 53 The Stars/Revelation , its first 10 lines translated in an earlier post (Distance RA) and the following 15 lines translated here, relates two meetings between Muhammed (pbuh) and the Archangel Gabriel (pbuh) and the manner in which the Revelation of the Quran was imparted. While many interpret the word 'Najm' as 'Star', the verb for falling or descending is plural such that the subject is 'Stars'. At any rate 'Njmeh' is the singular for 'Star'. Since Signs 53:1-53:18 relate Muhammed's encounter with Gabriel on 2 particular occasions, the secondary meaning 'Revelation' is perfectly acceptable for 'Najm' as well.

53 Najm (Stars/Revelation)
وَالنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَى 53:1 مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَى 53:2 وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى 53:3
إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَى 53:4 عَلَّمَهُ شَدِيدُ الْقُوَى 53:5 ذُو مِرَّةٍ فَاسْتَوَى 53:6
وَهُوَ بِالْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَى 53:7 ثُمَّ دَنَا فَتَدَلَّى53:8 فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَى 53:9 فَأَوْحَى إِلَى عَبْدِهِ مَا أَوْحَى 53:10
53:12 مَا كَذَبَ الْفُؤَادُ مَا رَأَى 53:11 أَفَتُمَارُونَهُ عَلَى مَا يَرَى
وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَى 53:13 عِندَ سِدْرَةِ الْمُنْتَهَى 53:14
عِندَهَا جَنَّةُ الْمَأْوَى 53:15 إِذْ يَغْشَى السِّدْرَةَ مَا يَغْشَى 53:16 مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ
وَمَا طَغَى 53:17 لَقَدْ رَأَى مِنْ آيَاتِ رَبِّهِ الْكُبْرَى 53:18 أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَالْعُزَّى 53:19
وَمَنَاةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْأُخْرَى 53:20 أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنثَى 53:21 تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى 53:22
إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاء سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُم مَّا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَانٍ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ

وَمَا تَهْوَى الْأَنفُسُ وَلَقَدْ جَاءهُم مِّن رَّبِّهِمُ الْهُدَى 53:23
أَمْ لِلْإِنسَانِ مَا تَمَنَّى 53:24 فَلِلَّهِ الْآخِرَةُ وَالْأُولَى 53:25

53 Najm (Stars/Revelation)
53:11 His heart did not lie about what he saw/witnessed.
53:12 Would you dispute with him as to what he saw/witnessed?
53:13 And likewise he saw Him during another Descent,
53:14 At the farthest/terminus Lote tree.
53:15 Near/In the Promised Garden.
53:16 Where the Lote tree was veiled with that which shrouded it.
53:17 The Eyes did not waver nor did they err/stray.
53:18 Indeed he witnessed some of God's Greatest Signs.

Signs 53:1-53:10 describe one instance of Gabriel manifesting in His Stately Form in order to deliver the Message. Signs 53:11-53:12 allude to just how incredulous one would be were they to witness such an event as an Angel Presenting Himself and Sign 53:11 is an immediate assurance to us, and more so the Prophet at the time, that the Prophet's senses were not deluded by such an incredible encounter. Ayeh 53:12 posits that since no one other than the Prophet witnessed it, how can they be in any position to dispute it (see Chicken Little's quandary)?

Sign 53:13 maintains that Gabriel had Manifested in his True form (described in 53:1-53:10) on at least one other visit; demarcated at the farthest limit or boundary by the Lote tree said to be situated in Paradise proper. At one time in that part of the world it was common to use trees to mark road boundaries and the Lote tree itself may very well be one akin to any of the genus Zizyphus, however, the Lote tree 'veiled in splendor' here in the Garden is an allegorical mystical tree, similar to what is known as the Tree of Life, Tree of Knowledge, or World Tree mentioned in other Religions. (photo: Ed Ailor)
Some assume it to be a particular variety of Zizyphus (a spiny variety of trees and shrubs) that marks the limit or boundary of Human Knowledge. Limited in that even our ability to articulate or in any other way define or understand the what/who/how/why of God, is not available to us; we can only know that God Is.



The Arabic word for the Lote tree is Sidr and since it marks the limit of our Human understanding it is mentioned in 53:14 as 'Sidrat al-muntaha' or the 'Lote tree of the farthest limit/boundary' (true bearing; Start Descent RA (53, 14); T=0); it coincidentally marks the boundary into Paradise.

Due to its regional prevalence many assume the Lote tree was used in the making of Christ's 'crown of thorns', and go so far as to say that particular variety of Lote was spina-christi (common to Southeast Asia). But it is more likely that the jujube and lotus varieties were the regionally common varieties in Christ's environs, so attempting to fix the variety as spina-christi with any certainty is not unequivocal. And stating something as fact when indeed it is only a guess is one way rumors get started.

And that leads to Signs 53:19-53:23 in that, simply naming something and assigning it attributes, no matter how elaborate or widespread this information becomes, does not make it True. Pagan religions all had a Mother Goddess of one form or another to worship, including the pagan Arabs who had a Triad of Goddesses to worship. The Triad comprised Al-Lat, 'Uzza and Manat, of whom Al-Lat was the Grande Damme.

53 Najm (Stars/Revelation)53:19 Have you heard of Al-Lat and Al-'Uzza?
53:20 And the third one, Manat, the other?
53:21 For you the males and for Him the females?
53:22 That is such an unfair division! (for you that is)
53:23 They are nothing but names you invented, you and your forefathers;
_____God had not Sanctioned anything about them. They but follow a guess and their own
_____whims. And now Guidance comes to them from their Lord.
53:24 Should the Human have whatever he/she desires?
53:25 Indeed the End and the Beginning (Last and First; Present and Hereafter) belong to God.

Some trace the name 'Allah' back to the root of the name for the pagan Mother Goddess Al-Lat, saying that Islam is indeed a pagan religion because of this association. Allowing that this etymology is correct (but I doubt it), this is also the case with the very word 'God' which derives from the name Gad (pronounced Gawd) for a pagan diety.

But praying to God with the Understanding that It is the 'Ultimate Creator of All' that is being extolled does not make God a pagan God due to the pagan origin of the word. Prior to Enlightenment as to what God Is, only pagan gods had names and people were wont to worship pagan dieties. It stands to reason that many (if not all) the names we have for God derive from pagan roots but many of us would shrink at the idea that we are praying as heathens just because the Names we now have for God trace their roots back to a Time of Ignorance.

Finally, 53:24-53:25 culminate with the rhetorical question; 'Should we each have whatever it is we desire?' The Realization being that we get what we Earn, what may accrue on various Attempts at what we Do, and Finally, what God intends for us to Have. The very idea that we think we have that much say in the matter is itself an illusion, since Ultimately it All belongs to God.

The Chair And The Lamp

There are many references to God's Attributes throughout the Quran, often appearing as Names in conclusion to a passage. However, there are 2 very important Signs that give deeper insight into God, expounding either Unique Qualities as in 2:255, commonly referred to Ayet-al-Kursi (The Chair/Throne), or given by an accessible Similitude as in 24:35, commonly referred to as An-Noor (Light).

Sign 2:255 Al-Kursi (The Chair/Throne/Domain)


24 Noor (Light)

24:35 اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ
...الْمِصْبَاحُ فِي زُجَاجَةٍ الزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ

24:35 God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth. Like the Light of a Lamp containing a Msbah; the Msbah is in a zjajtn; the zjajtu akin to a kawkab duri; stoked from a Blessed Olive Tree; not Eastern nor Western; its oil almost shines (glows) without any fire having touched it. Light Upon Light. God Gifts (Guides unto) His Light Whom He Wills; and God Strikes Parables/similitudes for People, and God is Aware of (Knows) Everything

Table 2:255 did not forget Time attribute; so far having difficulty putting it into words.

---Ok. Besides God, who out there already knows the Theory of Everything and why haven't we read about it--is it below the fold (on the front page)? Table 2:255 (A,1) Imparts Charge, Charges; (A,2) Recharges; (A,1) might also mean vicinity/locale; (A,3) not affected by/repels inactivity/ground state/and resistance !0 && !ohm; (A,4) contains/includes all Power (reference Watts (ms) wrt ground/Earth; this can be scaled to the system so in an atom the 'earth' is the nucleus or the ground state and the sky is the 'electron cloud' or excitation; if 'all' is taken to mean the sum of the Power or Force is in discrete values and not continous); (A,5) no interference without 'permission' --selective interference; (A,5) domain includes sigma P (Watts -ms) wrt ground/Earth; (A,7)energy does not dissipate although it imaparts charge/energy (dR)=0;

Time in 2:255; 'Knows what is between their hands'and what is behind them'; 'between their hands' = Present but also intersticial since it is 'between' and 'what is behind them' is Past or not in their line of sight; Present 'between their hands' also means what is about to happen since it could be 'in the works' or being developed so that would include Future the nuance again is intersticial--so this would be a reference to time dilation.

Here is one way to go about this:

My friend says 'Enough with the Magilla Gorilla and Ogee jokes!'

I wouldn't call this 'bad math' but rather more 'mystical math'; for instance 'is aware of everything' means contains everything' and 0 can be a valid sum of all numbers...

.

.

24:35 gives the qualitative properties of the God's Light:

_

24:35 Table above left describes the light itself:

the second Table 24:35 above right describes the fuel source (the 'tree that stokes it and its oil') of the Light:

(A,1) stoked of a blessed olive tree; fueld/stoked from a tree (crytal growth?) mo (oxide of metal or molar) Ba-Ra--Ca--Sn system zay.tu.na.tin like 2Na-Sn or Na-TiN system: taking for example the alkaline metal/tin system Barium Stannides are tree-like chain polar anions where the valence electrons contibuted by the Sn is 2 and in the case of the Na-Sn system I think it also forms a zintl ion or a polar cluster, specific to the case of Ba Sn the 'tin layers are made of condensed {Sn6} rings in chair formation'; one application for these types of systems is in supercondutors, etc
(A,2) not east or west leaves North-South dipoles ; dipoles/or dielectic values re-inforces superconductors/seeded plasma; taken in context with The Chair 2:255 above and the referecence to !ohm (0 resistance) and generating large currents with nearly 0 energy dissipation; the concept of superconduction is re-inforced here.
(A,3) Its oil virtually shines/glows without fire; luster/luminosity of zaytuha (like 2 Ha or T U Ha system) is virtual i and radiationless

Notes:

• MykeyMykeyMykey...this 'shot in the dark' may have 'missed by a mile' so I 've posted the transliteration and see what you can cook up and I'll try my hand at a new chicken recipe! الَر المر





• There must be a conspiracy about how I got all this wrong; yesterday a collegue was practicing a new grip on his table tennis paddle and I casually mentioned I can't play the game since I have difficulty tracking the ball and he up and says, "You have to do more differential equations!"

A Gardner Like That One

Trees
I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
_
_
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
-
-
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
--American Poet, Joyce Kilmer. 1886–1918

Trees, branches, fractals are some examples of dendrites and 2 key parameters characteristic of dendritic growth are the tip radius and tip velocity. 

 "Dendritic growth also provides an archetypal problem in morphogenesis, where a complex pattern evolves from simple starting conditions. As one of the simplest nontrivial examples of spontaneous pattern formation, the physical understanding and mathematical description of dendrites remains of interest to mathematicians, scientists, and engineers."—from the article, Dendritic Growth Tip Velocities and Radii of Curvature in Microgravity, by Koss LaCombe, et.al.


Other naturally ocurring phenomena which display dendrite formation/dendritic growth are the shape of EMF, magnetic flux...

Tesla's 'Dooms Day Machine'

...organic and inorganic formations such as icicles and neural networks

Examples of Naturally occuring Dendrites.
Both organic and inorganic include (clockwise from top left);
 metal alloys, water icicles, fly eye neurons, brain cells/networks.

The fine structure constant, α ~ 1/137 is a dimensionless fundamental physical constant that surfaces in both Mechanistic and Anthropic considerations. (See Sifting Through The Rubble for more about what else may be couched in the fine grain structure constant).

SpaceTime as described in a Scientific American article.
According to 'spin foam' and how the 'spin network' changes with Time, is remeniscent of Dendritic growth.

3-D to 2-D Reduction of the Universe near the Planck length.
Similar charts found elsewhere at apageinthelife,
 including 'Building a Mystery'.
The image is not very clear but it reveals
the geometry at small scales is similar to dendrite patterns

The Evolution of Geometry in Time, shown above is taken from the Scientific American article Atoms of Space and Time (Lee Smolin, Scientific American Sp 15, 56 - 65 (2006) doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0206-56sp) depicts the geometry of spacetime from the evolution of 'spin foam', ie., the 'spin network' when it includes Time as the 4th dimension:

“The (spacetime) geometry changes discontinuously, becoming a single (1) quantum of volume and 3 quanta of surface area, as shown in the last frame. In this way, time as defined by a spin foam evolves by a series of abrupt, descrete moves, not by a continuous flow…"

(Note: This contradicts the 'Time as a Line' premise (see wolframalpha definition discussed below), in that the very definition of a line implies continuitity since between any 2 points on a Line there is an Infinite number of Points.)

"Although speaking of such sequences as frames of a movie is helpful for visualization, the more correct way to understand the evolution of the geometry is as discrete ticks of a clock. At one tick the orange quantum of area is present; at the next tick it is gone—in fact, the disappearance of the orange quantum of area defines the tick. The difference in time from one tick to the next is approximately the Planck time, 10^-43 second. But time does not exist in between the ticks; there is no “in between.” In the same way that there is no water in between two adjacent molecules of water…”

(Note:While the 'Time vanishes between Tics' or 'Pops In and Out of Existence between Tics' premise is one way of explaining Time in the geometry/math of the evolving 'spin foam', it is this very behaviour of Time near the Planck scale that would make it Suspect as a Higher Dimensional Object manifesting/Transitting? a Lower Dimension, (my take on this spacetime geometry, remember what fun Emily is having with Bob...Oh, and poor Fred the Flatlander!)

In contrast to the author, Lee Smolin's,  explanation of 'quantum tic Time' in this 2006 Scientific American article, the "conventional" concept of Time from wolframalpha.com/(keyword fractal dimension) follows:

"The term "fractal dimension" is sometimes used to refer to what is more commonly called the capacity dimension of a fractal (which is, roughly speaking, the exponent in the expression , where is the minimum number of open sets of diameter needed to cover the set). However, it can more generally refer to any of the dimensions commonly used to characterize fractals...

The notion of dimension is important in mathematics because it gives a precise parameterization of the conceptual or visual complexity of any geometric object. In fact, the concept can even be applied to abstract objects which cannot be directly visualized. For example, the notion of time can be considered as one-dimensional, since it can be thought of as consisting of only "now," "before" and "after." Since "before" and "after," regardless of how far back or how far into the future they are, are extensions, time is like a line, one-dimensional object..."

(Hmmm...'Time is a One-Dimensional Object Like a Line?'...Says the Observer from the 4-D SpaceTime Universe, refer to Flatlands--You mean to tell me it's a Line and Not a Complex Geometric Object? Not a Fractal? That it doesn't/cannot Loop Back Around?... And do other funny things (to my hair  /hare    /neverwhere)?)

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Physicists Renate Loll and Dejan Stojkovic are working independently to discern the geometry of the 'early universe' and answer the question 'Did the early universe have just one spatial dimension?'

Studies suggest that the early universe — which expanded from a single point and was very, very small at first — was one-dimensional (like a straight line--here we go again with the linear thinking) before expanding to include two dimensions (2D, like a plane) and then three (like the world in which we live today).{Really, 3- and not 4-D is the world in which we live today?--That would mean my goose is cooked in No Time At All!} 

The theory of evolving dimensions presents a paradigm shift from the way we previously thought the cosmos came to BE.

The core idea is that the dimensionality of space depends on the size of the space we’re observing, with smaller spaces associated with fewer dimensions.

That means that a fourth dimension will open up (unfold)— if it hasn’t already — as the universe continues to expand. The theory also suggests that space has fewer dimensions at very high energies of the kind associated with the early, post-big bang universe.

According to Stojkovic, “What we’re proposing here is a shift in paradigm,...Physicists have struggled with the same problems for 10, 20, 30 years, and straight-forward extensions of the existing ideas are unlikely to solve them...We have to take into account the possibility that something is systematically wrong with our ideas,” he continued. “We need something radical and new, and this is something radical and new.”

Loll works on developing a theory of quantum gravity, reconciling the beautiful geometric description of space and time laid out in Einstein's theory of General Relativity with the insight that all of physics at its most fundamental level must be described by quantum laws of motion.

She is one of the pioneers of a new approach to the nonperturbative quantization of gravity, that of Causal Dynamical Triangulations which recently has produced a number of remarkable results. These include a dynamical derivation of the fact that space-time is four-dimensional (something that can be taken for granted only in classical gravity) and that it has the shape of a de Sitter Universe (like our own universe in the absence of matter), and of the so-called wave function of the universe which plays an important role in understanding the quantum behaviour of the very early universe.

Remarkably, the dimensionality of spacetime reduces smoothly to two (2-D) at short distances, indicative of a highly nonclassical behaviour of spacetime geometry near the Planck scale. These results are obtained by superposing elementary quantum excitations of geometry which have a notion of causality ("cause preceding effect") built into them at the very smallest scale.

Ink on Paper modeling 2-D Universe near Planck length, as seen on one episode of Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman featuring Dr. Renate Loll (the shape is reminiscent of dendrites).
{While this is a reduced spatial dimension, it corresponds to a higher energy state).

The 'Universal Mesh' modeling how the 2-D Dendritic type Universe near Planck scale (see previous) expands to higher 3- and 4-Dimensions as it grows.
(See references to 'interwoven firmament', 'heaven rife with interwoven paths,' ie., Quran Sign 51:7)


 

Shown: 4-D Julia Set
Interesting in that it is very similar to results from Computer-generated superpositions of causal geometries that show the emergence of an extended quantum groundstate;
 the geometric properties of which provide strong evidence that quantum spacetime indeed behaves macroscopically like a four-dimensional universe.

According to Loll it reveals a fractal structure on slices of constant time, and I posit that due to the 'Law of Similars' (ie, 'as above, so below'), Time itself is more than likely fractal in nature, like other natural phenomena and probably displays the same fractal dimensions as Rivers (see reference to Rivers of Time in 'Is the Sky a Hologram', elsewhere reference to 'tuples', quaternions/octads/octals).

Since all local curvature degrees of freedom of the geometry undergo large quantum fluctuations, a four-dimensional geometry can either crumple up to generate a geometry of an effectively higher dimension (like crumpling up a two-dimensional sheet of paper into a three-dimensional ball), or curl up to give a geometry of an effectively lower dimension (like rolling up a piece of paper into a thin tube, which will appear effectively one-dimensional at a scale much larger than the circumference of the tube). This is exactly what happens in nonperturbative Euclidean quantum gravity. It produces ground states of geometry that are either maximally crumpled with an infinite(!) effective dimension  or polymerized into thin and branched threads, with an effective dimension of two, neither of them promising candidates for the ultimate vacuum.

The main technical tool for constructing a causal nonperturbative path integral is the method of Causal Dynamical Triangulations, a Lorentzian version of dynamical triangulations , in which the new fundamental principle of microcausality is implemented by taking superpositions of only those geometries which have a well-defined causal structure down to the very smallest scales.

And the exciting news is that this idea seems to work!

Computer-generated superpositions of causal geometries show the emergence of an extended quantum ground state.

Recent work which analyzes some of its geometric properties provides strong evidence that this quantum spacetime indeed behaves macroscopically like a four-dimensional universe.

These very encouraging findings imply that an essential aspect of the classical limit, the dimension of spacetime, emerges correctly, a consistency check other approaches to nonperturbative quantum gravity have yet to pass.

This nontrivial result makes the model of causal dynamical triangulations a prime candidate for a theory of quantum gravity, although much work remains to be done to prove that it indeed is the correct theory.

Further research is under way to determine other classical and semiclassical properties of the "reconstructed universe", as well as its true quantum structure.

At large scales, it re-creates the familiar 4-dimensional spacetime, but it shows spacetime to be 2-D near the Planck scale, and reveals a fractal structure on slices of constant time. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_dynamical_triangulation ]

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Dendrite growth is imprinted in the Mechanistic world from the 'spin foam' to 'the universe' (i.e, the quantum level to the cosmic scale). (That covers the maxima and minima for The As Above ..So, Too, Below.)

For the medial, or Anthropic applications, there have been several studies to parametrically define and analyze dendritic growth in living cells to determine branching rules, morphological identifiers and the shape of their dendrite spanning fields for anything from fly eye neurons (i.e, lobula plate tangential cells or LPTCs, motion sensitive neurons) and cerebellar Purkinje cells.

A brief review of the literature turned up one article which mentions that some early approaches to describing and reconstructing dendrite branching in general for LPTCs had failed to take into account a major functional constraint governing dendrites: their need to reach specific input locations.

"More recent attempts to constructing dendrite morphology in relation to their function and the location of their inputs had led to dendrite structures of low complexity and accuracy in spite of high computational costs. However, circuitry and connectivity as well as simple wire packing issues are known to be determinants of dendrite morphology.

In addition, the specific organization and architecture of many parts of the brain helps to reduce wiring costs for the (brain/neural network) circuitry. It is therefore not surprising that such constraints can be used to describe dendrite branching in LPTCs and other cells.

Other planar space-filling cells, the cerebellar Purkinje cells, certainly follow a similar rule. However, the suggested approach is not restricted to planar dendrites and future analysis will cover all different neuron arborizations to clarify the ubiquity of the suggested branching rule. At the example of LPTCs, the usefulness of the approach presented here can be put forward: LPTC electrophysiology was studied in great depth (e.g. and precise models, so-called compartmental models, including the detailed anatomical structure were designed and are continuously being improved).

Understanding LPTC branching, these constraints can be directly put in relation with the optic flow processing occurring within their circuitry.

Assuming generality of principles, even the function of cells, which have not yet been reconstructed, can be inferred based on the contours of their dendrites alone. Moreover, the fly is the model animal in which the molecular components that determine neural growth are currently being unveiled, mainly through genetic tools.

Our framework therefore allows a quantitative study of the impact of gene modifications far beyond basic statistics.

In particular, molecular principles guiding neuronal self-avoidance during development and others can now be put in relation with the branching constraints presented here. Eventually, studying molecular factors shaping dendritic spanning fields separately from a specific branching rule within should elucidate a fundamental organizational element in the brain, i.e. the neuron's branching structure.

After 3D skeletonization and sparsening the carrier points, the remaining points were submitted to the same greedy algorithm (started at a user defined dendrite root location) as used for obtaining artificial dendrites Quadratic diameter decay was mapped on the resulting trees."

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Iron Filings in A Jar
3-D Magnetic Field
The 'tendrils' branch from a central 'hub' or 'onion' (see Purkinje Cells)
Similar to Dendrite Growth/Networks found Elsewhere in Nature

Applying this vast body of information from the very large to the very small probably leads to inroads when similar dendrite growth/concepts are applied to developing, say, a monopole magnet?

[Monopole magnets may not exist, but bipolar magnets may be produced/constructed based on the shape of the magnetic field and modeling it such that the 'net effect' is a monopole magnet--much like a monopole antenna is essentially still a dipole antenna, but its net effect is to radiate in only 1/2 the space.]

An analogous case, if one were to model such an 'alien magnet,' would  be a monopole antenna with a perfectly conducting, infinite ground plane  which is identical to the top half of a dipole pattern, with its maximum radiation in the horizontal direction, perpendicular to the antenna.

The 1/4-wave monopole antenna is a single element antenna fed at one end, that behaves as a dipole antenna. It is formed by a conductor in length. It is fed in the lower end, which is near a conductive surface which works as a reflector (see Effect of ground).

The current in the reflected image has the same direction and phase as the current in the real antenna.

The quarter-wave conductor and its image together form a half-wave dipole that radiates only in the upper half of space.

In this upper side of space the emitted field has the same amplitude of the field radiated by a half-wave dipole fed with the same current.

Therefore, the total emitted power is one-half the emitted power of a half-wave dipole fed with the same current.

As the current is the same, the radiation resistance (real part of series impedance) will be one-half of the series impedance of a half-wave dipole.

As the reactive part is also divided by 2, the impedance of a quarter wave antenna is ohms (most likely purely capacitive reactance).

Since the above-ground fields are the same as for the dipole, but only half the power is applied, the gain is twice (3dB over) that for a half-wave dipole ( ), that is 5.14 dBi.

The earth can be used as ground plane, but it is a poor conductor: the reflected antenna image is only clear at glancing angles (far from the antenna).

At these glancing angles, electromagnetic fields and radiation patterns are thus the same as for a half-wave dipole.  Impedance of the earth is far inferior to that of a good conductor ground plane -- this can be improved (at cost) by laying a copper mesh.

Because it radiates only into the space above the ground plane, or half the space
of a dipole antenna, a monopole antenna will have a gain of twice (3 dBi over) the gain of a
similar dipole antenna, and a radiation resistance half that of a dipole.

Thus a quarter-wave monopole antenna, the most common type, will have a gain of 5.19 dBi and a radiation resistance ofabout 36.8 ohms if it is mounted above a good ground plane.
Commercially manufactured ladder line or "window line" (for this metaphor see Talk Like An Egyptian, above) is a type of transmission line similar to twin-lead for balanced connection of antennas.

Ladder line is constructed as a pair of evenly spaced wires with supportive plastic webbing holding the wires apart. The plastic webbing has windows cut in it to reduce its dielectric effect and reduce loss in the transmission line. The alternating webbing and windows gives ladder line its characteristic look and name.

Conceivably, due to similaries in dendrite growth/shape of electric and magnetic fields, and their physical properties already clearly understood through related parameters from the coupling factor (fine structure constant α) to Maxwell's equations (which unify electricity, light, and magnetic radiation), monopolar magnets may be engineered by properly ~weaving~ the magnetic domains to produce a net effect of monopolar mangnetism--an analog (dual/complement) to how monopole antennas radiate radio signals or akin to how metamaterials 'appear' to violate Snell's Law for light.

{Back in the day we used to call this 'reverse engineering' and we didn't need to down alien space craft to do it--it was simply a matter of cracking open some competitors' devices, like RCA InGaAsP transcievers---now I am forced to resort to just pounding out 'crib notes' on A Page... from my kitchen table while I wait for the veggies to parboil.}

--it's not that easy, and me not so smart, so Yous guys have first crack at it and work from my notes.

Oh...I forgot, someOne already figured all this out, I just edited the in-flight black box recording for posterity...

...no need to bust a gasket over it, I do believe You Know It!

...turns out Jeremy here knew the answer to a History question and not any of this other stuff.