Now, Wikipedia has very good information about the song, including quotes from Greg Lake and others; but I also looked up the song on Songfacts…this is often an excellent site to find obscure facts about a song, it’s history, and maybe what it was intended to be about. It’s also fun to browse through user comments, as people are often touched by certain songs in certain ways, and many of us have unique and interesting interpretations of a song–often quite different from what the author(s) intended or thought they were saying.

What struck me as notable–and the reason I am posting this entry–is that several people commented (or implied) that either Lake himself or this song is Anti-Christian. On the contrary, in interviews he has asserted that this song is NOT anti-Religious at all. Instead, Lake stated that this song was a protest against the Commercialization of Christmas.

In the United States, especially, we are bombarded with deceptive advertisements, television shows, and motion pictures that “inform” us that “Santa Claus” and big Uncle Macy at the Department Store are the ones we should REALLY be worshiping…and serving with our Almighty Dollars (Which, themselves, have become a False God in my country, by the way.) Jesus Himself said that a man cannot serve two masters, and yet I personally do not know of a single Christian who is not also a slave to the power of the Almighty American Greenback Dollar! This is wrong! Very, very wrong!

I’ll even throw in my own bit, that December 25th was NOT the true date of Christ’s birth to begin with; the early Christians celebrated it somewhere around January 6th–and that was on the old Julian calender besides; today’s Gregorian calender would put it around Jan 16th. And that’s only if older Greek historical sources are not correct; as some of those put the actual time of Jesus birth somewhere during the months of May-July. The actual celebration of Christmas we observe on Dec 25 originated with the old Germanic ritual of Yuletide–which, by the way, was a Pagan Fertility Rite.  Yes, you knew sex had to come into Christmas somewhere, didn’t you?

The church, in the 4th-10th Centuries AD polluted itself even further by re-inventing and absorbing Pagan celebrations into “holy” rituals…this practice culminated in nothing less than the Inquisition and the Bloody Dark Ages! Have you ever wondered why Jesus, in the Book of Revelations, refers to the Church of Rome as “The Great Whore of Babylon“? Trust me…the description is very clear. It’s talking about ROME!

Now…all of this certainly contributes to the “Great Lie”/”Fairy Tale” that is Christmas in Europe and America. But, oddly enough, “Santa” is not a lie! At least, not entirely. Reindeer were an invention…as was the North Pole, Elves, and his apparent Omniscience about children being good. The man whom our “beloved Church” perverted into this Comic Book-grade joke was actually a real person. His name was Nikolas, and he was a priest in the Greco-Roman province of Lycia, which is now a part of Turkey. He was known to be a very generous man–having come from a rich family–and he performed so many miracles during his lifetime, he earned the title “The Wonder-worker”. His service during the 4th Century actually pre-dated the church’s bogus adoption of December 25th as “Christ’s Mass”. He is known as a patron of Sailors, Merchants, Archers, Thieves oddly enough, Children, and Students. He’s considered the Patron Saint of Greece, too.

Now, like many other saints, angels, ghosts, and sundry other “things that go bump”–night, OR day, in this case–Nicholas has never been content to just be “Dead“. Nearly every “Saint” in the Catholic Church’s repertoire of Venerable Beings has made appearances. I can cite the repeated, and widely reported sightings of Saint Mary, for example, in Lourdes, Guadalupe, Fatima, and most astonishingly, in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia–an event that was televised by CNN and other news organizations, and is apparently still going on. Well, “Jolly Old St. Nick” was up to his old miraculous tricks very quickly after his bodily “Death”, and I have actually, PERSONALLY met him! The Nikolas of history and supernatural reality bears VERY LITTLE resemblance to the red-suited icon of the American “Christmas Scene”. The reality is, he is down-to-earth, he encourages others to love one another (the very message Jesus taught us, BTW), and…where no other hero or miracle is available, he arranges to have unlikely benefactors do things that ultimately help those who are poor and downtrodden. Yes, this sometimes includes charitable gifts from the rich, like R. H. Macy and Andrew Carnegie…but I’ve also seen incidental events, such as when the construction of a bridge in my hometown hit a snag; and as a result of the necessary redesign, several thousand square feet of land suddenly became available to become the new home for the Union Gospel Mission, a shelter for the homeless. Nor can I discount the haunting similarity of voices on emergency 911 calls played back on Reality shows like “Cops” and “Homicide: Life n the Street” to that of the gentle old man I met those many years go. In each case, a life was saved because of that anonymous 911 call. Yes, ghosts CAN AND DO use modern technology–there are numerous case studies on TV, the Internet, and in print. Of course, I can’t be sure those stories are Nikolas’s handiwork…but that is the spirit of Saint Nicholas, the “real” man behind the “Santa Claus” myth.

So, here, in “I Believe In Father Christmas”, we have Greg Lake’s reaction to the deceitful commercialization of the Christmas Holiday. I mean…there is so little that is actually “Honest” about Christmas presents, lights on the tree and our houses, and even the Nativity itself. Not even the day we celebrate Christmas is true to its origins! What we have is a magical Fairy-Tale, that one day can and must come crashing down around us in a hail of debt, anxiety, and a shortage of parking, that we faithfully endure for the sake of our children. What can I say? Growing up in the Cult of Christmas SUCKS! In the end, no wonder so many of us become depressed, disenfranchised, and detached from the true spirit of Christmas. What we need, is to step back, and take a look at what really started it all:

Somewhere, at some unconfirmed date, in a stable in Israel, a child was born to a young girl who had never had sex with a man. That child grew up to be a great teacher, miracle-worker, and leader. He was murdered by his own people for his unconventional beliefs; and three days later, he THREW OFF THE CHAINS OF DEATH to prove Himself to be not only the Son of Almighty GOD, but to have been the perfect, and final sacrifice, for all of the Evil that we humans have learned to commit.

Oh, and a few centuries later, a wise and humble priest espoused the ideals of this Christ, and was remembered for it.

That’s it! The Truth of Christmas…this is all there is left! No wonder Greg Lake calls it all a Fairy Tale. Buried in literally centuries of fables and falsified ritual and doctrine, the Christmas “Holiday” bears almost no resemblance whatsoever to what is true and holy in honoring the birth and life of Jesus Christ. And so it may have been, that with no small measure of Disgust, Greg Lake bids us “Hallelujah Noel, be it Heaven or Hell“. And, as I have seen so many times myself, we really do get the kind of Christmas that we have earned for ourselves. Perhaps we deserve even worse. As the years progress since Lake wrote this song, I certainly believe our country is getting worse.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you all, on this…by most accounts, the “TRUE” birthday of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

SASS has Spoken. Goodnight.

Actually, I find myself in a very similar condition.  I have memories pre-dating my current lifespan, where I served God directly as an angel.  This is part of the reason that I know that our souls exist apart from our bodies physical chemistry, because I existed before I was “Born”.  I believe, like most Christians, that Jesus Christ was born, lived a perfect life, and then was murdered, but rose again on the third day.  But more than that–I REMEMBER these things!  I watched it happen, or alot of it.

And I watched what happened in heaven, when–instead of punishing those responsible for the torture and murder of God’s own son–he poured his wrath down…ON HIS SON!!!

There was horror in heaven, when that happened.  So few of the angels really understood what God meant when he sent HIM as a “Savior”.  We didn’t even have a WORD for the name of God, or His aspects then…nothing translatable into Human speech, anyway.  Amongst ourselves, we spoke in whole concepts, paragraphs and entire essays in a single glimmer of thought.  That was God down there, poured into one of those chemical sacks, not unlike one would seal a hunk of meat into a can.  But then, you can’t put the whole cow into a can, any more than you could put all of God into a mortal body.  The rest remained; but it was silent, inert.  Jesus was there, bound by time and mortality; and the entity we knew–which I can’t even put a name to, He was that great–was missing.  I mean, He was just missing from Heaven…His power was gone!  Bound, down there, in a Mortal form that had only a small fraction of His former energy.

And then the Jews murdered him…and in His righteous wrath, God poured out his vengeance on the VICTIM of their crime–and finally, I understood the concept of a “Sacrifice”.  You see, what Jesus identified as Sin is far more than the human concept of “A little white lie”, or a “Big black lie”, or a Murder, or sexual infidelity, or any other of the actions we humans are capable of taking that are equated with wrongness or evil.

Sin is evil energy.  It ebbs and flows a lot like electricity, and the medium of travel is the human soul, NOT the body chemistry.  If you picture the oil rupture in the Gulf of Mexico, and the insidious way it poisoned fish and seabirds wholly unseen by the human eye, that’s kind of like the way sin works.  When humans commit an act that is wrong, the poison creeps into them like that poison back oil.

But also, when we THINK a thing that is evil, the poison spreads within us.  Thoughts…willing, willful thoughts and deeds that are dark–like hate, greed, lust, and so on–open holes within the energy that is “us” and the poison fills them.

When Jesus died, and was punished by God in our place, he created the means to remove this toxic energy from our souls.  I can’t begin to describe how it actually works…I don’t even think Quantum scientists have yet put words to the concepts necessary to describe the effect that Jesus’ sacrifice had on the dark energy called “Sin”, but suffice it to say that Jesus was able to “Funnel away” the stuff, literally take it away from across all time and space, and then LEAVE IT IN THE ABYSS when He was resurrected on the third day.

Somehow, only by punishing the one who was actually INNOCENT of sin, God was able to cleans all of those who were contaminated by sin.

Would that it were possible to clean up oil-soaked seabirds that way….

SASS has Spoken

– the SASS Man

The forum itself, “Great House Fliggerty“, revolves mostly around the game from Bathesda Softworks called “The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind“, and around the people who play it and program modifications for it.

The answers others gave ranged from “When it can distinguish between a nice round apple and a red ball by only looking at it” to “When the computer can get into romance.” Alot of the answers said something about feelings, or at least willfull (or “apparently random”) acts that aren’t already programmed in the first place.

I had to think about this subject for a while. In the long run, the real question is, “How do we define life? even sentience?” I think our universe provides its own definition of what is alive, what is consious, and what…basically…isn’t.

So…here is what I wrote on that forum:

I think my favorite definition of sentience, or “Human-ness” comes from the 1980′s film “D.A.R.Y.L.”:

“A machine becomes human when you can’t tell the difference anymore.”

Though realistically, sentience combines our ability to communicate in meaningful and mutable language with our ability to self-analyze.

Now…consider carefully that last term. We aren’t just aware of our particular sensory inputs, or our prepared responses to expected circumstances. We are aware of ourselves, and of our relationship to others in our environment.

So far, computers have been made able to respond to many kinds of stimuli, and to react…pretty convincingly human. BUT…no computer yet developed can analyze it’s OWN programming, upgrade it, and improve upon it, without some form of outside human assistance. In short, computers have yet to be made self-aware.

I believe part of that is because of our ability to “step outside” of ourselves, and perceive ourselves as others perceive us…and i believe THAT ability exists because of the nature of biological life forms. We have a dual nature of material chemistry and nonmaterial “Spirit”–our “souls” or whatever–that make it possible for us to willfully override the autonomous electro-chemical “events” that would otherwise drive us–like mindless automatons–to simply EXIST, but not ACHIEVE.

And…I believe that machines can exist as spiritual entities as well, given time, and the proper combination of sensory-reactive chemicals in their processing systems. Already, physicists are beginning to see unexpected variations in the processing logic of the higher-end computer processors: electrons not where they should be, random number generators that are not so randum, unexplained “noise” in the data stream. Why would that occur? Because it’s life. Because every particle in the Universe, every electron, photon, and graviton ever emitted by a material object is ALIVE, damn it!

Machines will achieve sentience the same way WE did! By simply being made so complex that the free living energies in the universe actually register on the system as freedom of choice, feelings, and the ability to look back at itself and say, “Hey! I think I am….therefore, I AM! I think….”

And then…as I said before…we really WON’T be able to tell the difference…..

…anymore……..

SASS has Spoken.

– the SASS Man

Well…first, let me show you what I was reading.  It comes from the Biblical account of the Exodus from Egypt; or more specifically, the chapter in which God introduces himself to Moses—from a burning bush:

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.   This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

~ Exodus 3:13-15 [New International Version]

Okay…so the burning bush story is familiar to most of us who’ve grown up in Western society, even if we’re not all practicing Christians or Fundamental Jews.  As is, of course, the epic crossing of the Red Sea, and the Ten Commandments, and so on.  How is this misunderstood?

Well…take those Ten Commandments.  PLEASE!  Take ‘em…you can have—

No, no!  I didn’t mean it like that…seriously! 

I meant that, in those Commandments, God has something to say about His name—that’s right, the same name He gave Moses to introduce His Almighty Self to the Israelites:

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

~ Exodus 20:7 – the Fourth Commandment [New International Version]

Notice anything interesting here?  Hmmm?  Not yet?  Well…you will.

You see…in any version, and in nearly every language, God introduces Himself as “I AM”—the present-perfect sense of the verb “to be”.

“Well,” you say, “maybe it’s specifically referring to the Hebrew language word for it?”

Actually, that’s what most people think.  It’s what the Israelites thought.  In conjunction with what the Fourth Commandment told them, they took it so seriously, they stopped using the word.  LITERALLY!  The people of Israel took the Fourth so seriously, they stopped saying “I AM” outside of prayer and worship activities, until the sound of the word itself was lost, and all we have left of the original Hebrew name for God is the four consonants written in the Hebrew scriptures for it: “YHWH”.

Wikipedia has a great article on this Hebrew name for God, including images of that Hebrew script for it.  Regarding their reverence for the name of God, Wikipedia has this to say:

Jews ceased to use the name in the Greco-Roman period, replacing it with the common noun Elohim, “god”, to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others; at the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered, and was replaced in spoken ritual by the word Adonai (“My Lord”), or with haShem (“the Name”) in everyday speech.

They stopped using it.  The Israelites stopped using “I AM”.  And even today, people are loath to say “God” or “Jehovah” or “Jesus” unless they’re really calm or reverent—or, really, really PISSED!

And that’s the part that I think was a terrible mistake.

You see…I don’t think God made a mistake when he used one of the most ubiquitous and irreplaceable symbols in the Hebrew language system to describe Himself.   He referred to himself as “I am what I am” or, as I prefer from the King James version “I Am THAT I Am”.

Seemingly, God…is equating Himself with Existence itself.

He told Moses “I Am that I am”, and that he could introduce his God simply as “I AM”: I Exist, I Was, I Will Be, and Am Here And Now.  He told them His Name was the same as Existence itself—that everything that is was His, that He made it, owned it, and without Him it wasn’t to be.

God…would “BE”.

In Modern English, we can’t speak at all without using derivatives of the verb “To Be” in our sentences.

Think about it.  Here I am, writing about the name of God, and where would I “be” without that one little word?  I WOULDN’T!  Literally, the opposite of “I AM” is “I AM NOT”—non-existence, nothing, never there.  Without “I AM” I could not communicate my existence, your existence, nor the existence or state of anything in the Human Experience.

God meant to do that.  And He meant us to remember Him whenever we talk about OUR existence, too!

THAT was why He chose such a word.  God never intended Humans to stop saying His name.  He never wanted us to shy away from Him out of reverence, or fear, or shame.  The Fourth Commandment says what it means, and means what it says.  Every single time we speak of our existence, or our state of mind, or our place in the universe—every time we use ANY derivative of “Be”…is, am, are, was, were, will be, couldn’t be, has been…WHATEVER!—we ARE speaking the Proper Name of our God, just as He intended from the beginning!

God’s EXISTENCE  is tied into the very framework of our own!  With that Fourth Commandment, God permanently and explicitly tied reverence to the concept of “Is”, of being, so that whenever we spoke of something that is, we must inevitably think of the Almighty God that made it POSSIBLE for it to be.

His name is “IS”.  “I AM”…I-Exist-And-All-That-Exists-Exists-Because-I-Am.  That is the proper name of God, and this is why I believe Israel—and all the people who followed Israel’s lead on the matter—have mis-interpreted not only the intent of the Fourth Commandment, but have misunderstood the entire meaning of God’s name, and his relationship to Creation.  We can’t “not” use God’s name!  It’s impossible to speak coherently without saying it.  It is impossible to contemplate, without experiencing it.  To be, or not to Be…we can’t without God—and that was the idea.

What a SPECTACULAR misunderstanding!  These people thought the name of their Lord was too precious to speak aloud.

I know now that it is too prescious…NOT to speak it.

I shall speak the name of my Lord—loudly, openly, and proudly.  I shall speak it in every way, each and every day.  And I shall remember this name, and I will keep it always Holy in my heart.  Never will I take existence in vain—mine, nor His.

If I am truly the product of God’s Hand, then here is a lesson not taken lightly.  God commanded me to BE, and created me—a Human “BE”ing. 

This…is what I Am…

SASS has Spoken.

– the SASS Man

I’m at a new location in my home town, new set of circumstances…

…and a new lease on Internet Access, so here we go!

In the last year, we have basically all gotten a taste of the Great Depression, and it wasn’t very tasty, lemme tell you.  I lost a fairly stressful job, lost Internet and phone, lost power (twice), and finally had to lose my apartment.

Yes…I am now living with “Mom”….

At least I’m not living in my mother’s basement, like some sex-starved geeks.

In fact…I may finally have a chance to write my memoirs…erm–BLOG ENTRIES–yeah, that was it….

First, and foremost, I’d like to speak out for all the religious zealots and conspiracy theorists who keep saying “The end is NEAR!”:

No SHIT!  You really think so?  In the last ten years we’ve had more End-of-the-World movies come out of Hollywood than any other theme.  More than War movies, Romances, and horror flicks COMBINED!  We’ve seen disasters hit major population centers while the previous ones were still front-page news, and our life savings have vanished faster than we could say “Bailout!”

In simpler terms, even our kids know the score: We’re FUCKED!

Wholistic though it may be, I think at this point, my blog will be focusing a lot on the end of the world as we know it, and whatever may be coming next.

The Human Race, you see, is very resilient, and whether we’re dealing with Ragnarök, Armageddon, or just re-setting the Mayan clock, there’s hope for a future that actually has us in it.

For example, pierce through the symbolic language of Revelations chapters 19 and 20:  In there, you will see that the remnant of those who survived the Great Tribulation get to enjoy a period of peace on Earth for a thousand years.  Other religions have similar promises.  Even the tradition of the Mayan calender itself is based on the idea of a historical period BEFORE the current era, in which the world was laid waste and changed, and yet Human Beings survived and prospered.

We CAN survive.  We can even prosper.

Let me show you how……

Stay tuned!

– The SASS Man

My first DRUNK blog.

That’s right, I currently am PLASTERED beyond rational description.  And I won’t even tell you how many times I have already back-spaced to correct the spelling in this post.

Fortunately, I have this wonderful system that allows me to correct my typing before I actually submit something…yeah.  God Bless the mighty Spell Checker.

Anyway…I am feeling no pain.   My downstairs neighbor is cool enough to be a partier-magnet.  That is, there are seemingly ALWAYS people visiting.  –And drinking.  Lots of beer flows in the little appartment downstairs.  Lots of cigaretts burn to ashes on the balcony just downstairs from my own.

And this evening, I could smell the smoke, and I heard VOICES, MAN!!!  (And they weren’t in my head–that was the whole problem.)  So–I went out on my balcony tonight…and my neighbor said, “What are you up to?”

And I said…”Not much.”

So…

I grabbed a fith of Potter’s Vodka out of my larder…and I went downstairs…and I knocked on the door.  My neighbor’s friend answered.  And I said…”Is this a private party…or can anybody join?”  …and I waved the bottle…and he let me in.

That bottle is empty now…and I’m happy.

You see, I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to drink alone.

I’ve had a cupboard full of booze for, like…six months.  And with no friends who drink, I haven’t touched a DROP!!  That bottle of VODKA has sat there untouched since 2006.   (Normally, I’m a Tequilla drinker, and my last drinking  group in 2008 was a buncha Mexicans…duh.)  So…Vodka time.

I drank about half of the bottle myself…the rest, I shared with the group.  And, as I said, I’m good and drunk.

Life is good.

SASS has spoken.

P.s., Idid I actually say anything about the party?  No?  Well..I guess that’s a subject for ANOTHER blog entry…sorry.

I’m too drunk to talk about that……..

– the SASS Man

Today,  I have seen the most extrordinary performance ever by one of Jim Henson’s “Muppets” that I have ever witnessed.

This performance wasn’t the work of Gonzo the Great; it wasn’t one of Ms. Piggy’s infamous tirades; it wasn’t Fozzy’s comedic genius;  it wasn’t even an example of Kermit the Frog’s own fomidible talent.

No … this amazing performance was put fourth by none other than the single-most put-down, pathetic, and under-rated creature on the entire Muppets cast.

This incredible multi-song line-up was fronted and performed … by Beaker.

“BEAKER?” you might ask in disbelief.  And, you would be right in assuming that the poor thing couldn’t carry a tune to save his life…or even speak except in unintelligible squeeks and meeps.  As the assistant to the Muppets’ resident mad-scientist, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker fits a doubly low role as the butt of all jokes and the subject of the good scientist’s “experiments.”  In short, Beaker is an unmitigated, unabashed, and un-salvagable ZERO.

But Beaker has hidden talent … Beaker can Lip-sync!  And in that performance, for at least one night, Beaker shines!  And yes, my friends, Beaker brought the house down.  And he looked GOOD doing it!

See for yourself:

Beaker on YouTube

In all, Beaker went on to perform at least half a dozen songs, lip-syncing everything from Abba’s “Mama Mia” to Guns ‘n Roses’ “Mr Brownstone” to U2′s “With Or Without You” … even Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”! … all while looking good doing it.  I mean, in “Yellow”, he’s convincing!

This is from The Muppet Show’s ultimate looser!  I would never have expected Beaker to be the star of any Muppets number, let alone the lead in an entire night’s musical lineup!

Of course, now I must also confess to you that each of these numbers was edited–put together from bits of Muppet Show recordings–by the users of You-Tube and other video-sharing websites.  (The footage was mostly from the UK version of “The Muppet Show” episode 424,  which aired February 1980).  Unfortunately, Beaker never performed these songs on the show–and that’s a pity, because these videos show Jim Henson’s most lovable looser in a mode that really is anything but pathetic.  I think the producers ought to consider using this “mode” for him by adding it to his repitoire.  Imagine the delight and wonder for fans everywhere as they discover an area in which Beaker is actually good.

And, you know … this has a symbolic meaning for anyone who is downtrodden, rejected by society, and considered dumb or simple or slow … in short, for every looser, nerd, and zero of any sort … here is a symbol for you!

Being one of those downtrodden outcasts myself, I know how important this is.

You see, for  every one of us who is cast off by society–whether because we lack social skills, or because we studder or have another speach impediment, or due to mental illness or physical imfirmity–for whatever reason ”they,” the powers that make themselves the gods of the social world, choose to reject us and call us “Zeros,” we have a symbol.

With Beaker here, we have a symbolic representation of a universal truth: that every one of us has something special–some hidden talent or gift–something that somewhere, somehow, in some special circumstance, we, too will shine!

And it’s true … every one of us does have a gift.  We now know Beaker’s–he’s a lip-syncing savant … a star performer of the highest caliber–in his own special way.

Each of us is special in our own way, too … the loosers … the zeros … the nerds … the freaks … and the retards.  Every single one is special, too.

Here’s to you, Beaker, from all of us … losers and zeros every one.  Thank you!  And thanks to those who’ve edited your follies into films laden with possibilities … and a promise for the rest of us.

Yes, look at the stars … see how they shine for you, Beaker.  They’re shining for us all … for the losers, and even those that aren’t.

Stay Yellow.

SASS has Spoken.

– the SASS Man

According to one theory, the so-called “Dark Energy” may actually be more powerful than the effect of the force of gravity.  If so, then the most distant galaxies will eventually be too far away to be seen from the earth…and in about a 50-100 billion years, or so, even the stars in our own galaxy will seemingly be flung away into the void, and finally the earth will explode, and the subatomic particles will fall apart completely.  Ouch!

But I think a far more simple explanation may be in order for what may be pushing the most distant galaxies away faster than Gravity can pull ‘em back towards the center.

Pressure.

That’s right…I believe that simple gas pressure, like the force that expands a Helium balloon, may be what’s pushing the galaxies apart.

Physicists have already proved in laboratory experiments that what we think of as ‘vacuum’ is not really empty.  In fact, the empty reaches of space are filled with a veritable sea of “virtual” particles.  In any given location, energy fluctuations may give rise to the spontaneous creation of particle-anti-particle pairs, such as electrons and positrons, or protons and anti-protons, etc.  Now, we have seen that there really is something in the universe akin to Einstein’s “Cosmological Constant”; and in particle accelerators, Positrons and Anti-protons decay into other particles, while electrons and protons, seemingly, are stable.  (At least, the matter in our bodies are not spontaneously flashing into pure energy, so it sure feels stable, anyway…).

Given this disparity between matter and anti-matter, and given the evidence of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs in the vacuum of space, it stands to reason that somehow, matter is being created in the empty space between the galaxies.

Let’s say, for example, that an electron and a positron come into existence somewhere between the local group and the next cluster of galaxies.  There is a chance that either one of those particles may decay into another form before both are consumed in a reaction with another positron or electron from another spontaneous reaction.  But the chance of the positron disintegrating is much higher than the chance for the electron.  That means that, nine times out of ten, there is going to be a loose electron that has no antiparticle to “level out” its existence.  Given millions, billions, or even trillions of such odd-particles-out, that distant void will gradually fill up with gas–mostly hydrogen–which begins to rain down on the galaxies.   And with that gas is coming momentum–as each virtual pair emerges from the background, the energy which spawned the pair is imparted on the particles as well!  Momentum and Mass are constantly being ADDED to the universe, simply because of the lifespan of antimatter!

If I am correct, then the “Big Rip” predicted by Physicists will not happen.  Instead, over billions of years, we will be able to observe the formation of new galaxies, the rebirth of star-formation in existing galaxies, and the eternal expansion of a universe that, in fact, can NEVER die, because its birth and rebirth have never actually ended!

And, in fact, there is some evidence that this is occurring.  astronomers have detected Hydrogen gas falling into the Milky Way from ouside, from the void over what they consider the “top” of our great galaxy.  Hydrogen gas, pouring in from the void, where the decay of antimatter from virtual particle-antiparticle pairs would leave behind the protons and electrons that make it up, and imparted with the momentum resulting from the spontaneous creation of virtual particle pairs, would collectively have just enough energy to give the galaxies that minute “kick” that our physicists are observing as “Dark Energy.”  The gas itself would represent the “missing mass” that we see in the observable universe, and the momentum of creation should be just about enough to account for “dark energy.”

Thus, I suggest, we have found the true secret of the expanding universe:  The Creation has never ended.  Our universe continues to be created all around us…and therefore, maybe there IS no end.

Who knows?  It’s just my thoughts…from One who Watches.

SASS has Spoken.

– the SASS Man

Well, this was one that I think everyone ought to read, so I’m posting it here:

Beware of Garbage Trucks
by David J. Pollay

How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss,or an insensitive employee ruin your
day?

Unless you’re the Terminator, for an instant you’re probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly one can get back their focus on what’s important. Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened.

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by just inches!

The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’ And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.

”Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You’ll be happy you did.’ So this was it: The ‘Law of the Garbage Truck.’

I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, ‘I’m not going to do it anymore.’ I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie ‘The Sixth Sense,’ the little boy said,’I see Dead People.’ Well, now ‘I see Garbage Trucks.’ I see the load they’re carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don’t make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.

One of my favorite football players of all time, Walter Payton, did this every day on the football field. He would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground after being tackled. He never dwelled on a hit. Payton was ready to make the next play his best. Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by? Here’s my bet. You’ll be happier. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t. Believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, TAKE IT! If it changes your life, LET IT! Nobody said it would be easy…They just promised it would be worth it!

I know I’ll never think about people who dump on me the same way again.

What about you?

If you want to learn more, you can visit David J. Pollay’s site, The Law of the Garbage Truck™.

SASS has Spoken.

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wk    ou                                           jsiudj  ecyi      hs  kp  sqwf
 fq  qv                                            hxmu      kn          xc    wm
 jk  jl   eb   ethz    hjlgt  hwpn   hrmi          ptll      fx          lw    dk
 bk  df   rl      kh  qp  bl  xby       fg          nxye     ig         ud     mv
  gdxn    rs   rtmjm  ci  ip  rs     objfx  opzoq    yeov    oi        vh      gu
  ltmo    co  ur  by  kv  he  ch    qx  ic           hspf    fv       gi       mh
   wc     cb  ep  sw  lr  rz  cd    yl  sp         hxyjxz    hf      wd        qq
   ei     oc   mcnwk   wdziz  le     jmkpx          gjko     bx  mn  ehqupf    dd
                          df                         xb
                      emzzi

Now,  don’t get me wrong, but…if your eyes can see what I can see, you probably already understand the problem.  Spam filters are designed to search through text looking for key words – like viagra, porn and big financial deals – and shuffle the messages off into oblivion.  And, if you look real closely, there’s plenty of text there–lots of it, in fact–all random letters layed out in a nice formatted grid courtessy of “Courier New,” Microsoft’s default Monospaced font.

But what the span filter WON’T see is what your eyes tell you: that this is a sales pitch for that miracle drug that lets men function even when older, failing hardware won’t let them.  And this, of course, is just the start.  I dropped the part that encoded their website address in the same fashion, as well as the snippet from some story or blog post entry that followed it (in a normal font and text size, of course) in order to fool the filter into thinking this was real.

Now, I should tell you, I filter my own spam.  Yes, I have filters on my server(s) mark the spam, but before I get rid of the crap, I like to check it.  It wasn’t from someone I knew, but that wouldn’t have mattered.  I often get messages from people I meet online, or from friends who’ve changed internet providers and so on.  Also, I can generally tell the ones from scammers in South Africa who claim to be needing to use my American bank account(s) to transfer $50,000 to €50 Million out of some defunct corrupt official’s accaounts.  Those people just want an account number so that they can rob my US checking account.  I just forwarded three of those to SPAM@UCE.GOV, the Federal Trade Commission‘s Span Reporting address.

But this … this has to go.  I mean, it’s cool and all … As a geek, I get to point and laugh about how the creative Human Mind can overcome “this Technological Terror they’ve constructed” – one more bit of proof that the computer, while logical and fast, will NEVER be crazier (or better) than us.

But why does it always have to be spammers that figure this stuff out?

 bgjy   jh      lz    rc     qs
wk  ou  js            dj    ekox
fq      hx          knthwp  smrn
 jk     ebthz   hj    lg    okbq
  jk    rl  kh  qp    bl     wf
   dx   rs  jm  ci    ip     pl
    mo  co  by  kv    he     gc
zf  wc  cb  sw  lr    rz
 sgul   bw  we  op     mzz   un

SASS has Spoken.