Thursday, December 4, 2025

Introduction To This Blog System

                                                                                                                                                                           

Image used by permission

Postings may be later combined into a compound posting on this blog. Many of the postings concern my observations in various branches of science, but there are also many on technology, religion, economics and, general world issues.

I would really like to thank everyone who reads any of these blogs for your interest.
 
SCIENCE WRITING
 
Most of the postings on this blog are visits to various places around the world, and articles about such topics as history and religion. But much of the writing is about science. I do not write about what is already known but only if I can write something new, or at least a new way of looking at things.
 
If you would like a quick background in the science and mathematics that everyone should really know in the 21st Century, the posting "Scientific Literacy" provides this in about a hundred paragraphs. Similarly, "The Way Things Work" provides a quick background in everyday technology.
 
I am a Christian and I want to show that belief in God is not unscientific at all. I was interested in science long before I was interested in religion, and have never had any trouble believing that God created everything.
 
There are five major scientific theories, each arranged in the form of a textbook. The first four of the following five are on this blog.
 
"The Theory Of Stationary Space" is my cosmological theory of how so much revolves around time being explained by us being in four-dimensional space, with the dimension that we cannot access being perceived as time. This is my version of string theory, with matter actually being strings in four dimensions rather than particles in three dimensions. Everything is ultimately based on negative and positive electric charges, with energy being able to overcome the laws of attraction and repulsion of electric charges. No one has ever explained exactly what time is, and a myriad of explanations of other things fall right into place around it.
 
"The Flow Of Information Through The Universe" is about how so much can be explained by seeing how there is a limited amount of information, and it must be the same information that constructs the highest levels as the lowest levels. A ready example is how the orbits of planets around the sun is based on the orbitals of electrons around the nucleus, in the atoms of which the sun and planets are composed. This concept is extremely useful because, understanding this, we can study things that we cannot directly see by analyzing things that we can see because all must be built on the same information.
 
"The Theory Of Complexity" is about what information actually is, how energy and information is really the same thing, and how we see the universe as we do because of our perspective of being at a higher level of information than our inanimate surroundings.
 
"The Lowest Information Point" is about how, since information and energy is really the same thing and the universe always seeks the lowest energy state, it also always seeks the "Lowest Information Point". So much is explained by how the universe prefers equalities to inequalities and related ratios where the numerator of one ratio is also the denominator of the other. This explains so much from why dust particles are as big as they to why the planets and stars are the scale that they are.
 
"The Story Of Planet Earth", on the geology blog, is about how virtually every major feature of the earth's surface, both on land and seafloor, can be explained by lines of magma emergence from below that were affected by the landing of three Continental Asteroids. Many people believe that land originated from a past "super-continent", but there is no explanation of where it came from.
 
There are a few of what we could call "minor" theories, where there is not as much written as with the major theories. On this blog, there is "How Biology And Human Life Fits Into Cosmology". On the meteorology and biology blog, there is my theory of the nature of water, "Water Made Really Simple".
 
There are compound postings about science which are groupings of writing about a certain topic.
 
Scientific compound postings include, "Computer Science", "Atomic Science", "Measurement", "A Celebration Of The Inverse Square Law", "Our Solar System", "Mind-Bending Cosmology", "The Configuration Of The Solar System Made Really Simple", "In Appreciation Of Electrons", "The Science Of Human Society " and "Orbital And Escape Velocities And Impacts from Space".
 
Compound postings about history and the world include "The House Of Holy Wisdom, Where The Modern World Began", "Niagara Stories", "Economics", "How History Repeats Itself", "The Meaning Of Freedom", "The Western Hemisphere", "Our Language" and, "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris".
 
There are two compound postings about prophecies and the Bible. There is "The Aztec Prophecy" than, for prophecies that are directly made in the Bible there is "New Insight Into Bible Prophecy".
 
"Investigations" is the compound posting that is a collection of any posting about an investigation.
 
The rest of the postings are individual postings. For more detailed information about this blog, see the posting "Thanks To Readers". For general topics of conversation, see "Thoughts And Observations", on the world and economics blog.  

Other Blogs And Books

                                                                                                                      

Lights at night 

Here is a quick look at my other blogs before you start this one.

On this blog, you can see a list of all postings by clicking on the year or month to the right. But on the topical blogs, that is not the case. If you click on a year or month on those blogs, it will display the postings themselves, but the list on the right will still only show those postings that were added most recently.

To access a list of all postings on those blogs, it is necessary to click on the arrow in front of the year or month in question.

http://www.markmeekeconomics.blogspot.com/ is about economics, history and, general human issues.

http://www.markmeekprogress.blogspot.com/ concerns progress in technology and ideas.

http://www.markmeekearth.blogspot.com/ is my geology and global natural history blog for topics other than glaciers. My natural history blogs concerning the impact of glaciers is http://www.markmeekworld.blogspot.com/ .

http://www.markmeekniagara.blogspot.com/ is about new discoveries concerning natural history in the general area of Niagara Falls.

http://www.markmeeklife.blogspot.com/ is my observations concerning meteorology and biology.

http://www.markmeekphysics.blogspot.com/ is my blog about physics and astronomy.

http://www.markmeekcosmology.blogspot.com/ is my version of string theory that solves many unsolved mysteries about the underlying structure and beginning of the universe.

http://www.markmeekpatterns.blogspot.com/ details my work with the fundamental patterns and complexity that underlies everything in existence.

 http://www.markmeekreligion.blogspot.com/ is my religion blog.

 http://www.markmeekcreation.blogspot.com/ is proof that there must be a god.

http://www.markmeekphotos.blogspot.com/ is my travel photos of Europe.

On my photo blogs, Blogspot will not hold all of the photos in each blog in a straight line. To see all of the photos, you must click on the bottom posting listed on the right at the top of the blog after seeing all that there are in the initial showing. The last posting in the North America blog should be "Tijuana, Mexico" and the last posting in the Europe blog should be "Notre Dame Cathedral Door And Arc De Triomphe, Paris". Each photo in the photo blogs can be clicked on to enlarge it to full screen.

My autobiography is http://www.mark-meek.blogspot.com/

My books can be seen at http://www.bn.com/ http://www.amazon.com/ or, http://www.iuniverse.com/ just do an author search for "Mark Meek".   

Turkestan

There is no nation called Turkestan. Rather, it refers to a region, the region of central Asia that is populated by people of Turkic ethnicity. We have already visited Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, which are considered as part of Turkestan. There are also Turkic people in Siberia.

Today, we are going to visit the remaining four Turkic countries in central Asia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and, Tajikistan. Like Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, all are former Soviet republics. The suffix "-stan" simply means "nation" or "homeland".

Turkic people are much more diverse than the Arabs further south. They do not have the same language or religion. The majority of Turkic people are Moslems, but it tends to be moderate. The general attitude of the governments seems to be "We hope that our people will live as good Moslems but we are not going to enforce it by law".

Turkestan was along the Silk Road that once ran from China westward and these central Asian nations could be referred to as "The Silk Road Republics", since the Silk Road is being revived.

Turkic people are renowned as conquerors. Nader Shah was actually Turkic although he was the king of Persia, which is not Turkic. Babur, the founder of the great Mughal Empire was also of Turkic ethnicity.

In medieval times, there was a migration of Turkic people westward. They ended up founding one of the greatest empires in history. They are known as the Ottomans. Their country is known today as Turkey, because they were Turkic by ethnicity. They are not related to the people who lived in what is now Turkey in ancient times, the Hittites and the Phrygians.

Possibly the most dreaded name in human history is that of Timur, sometimes anglicized into Tamerlane. His conquests are estimated to have resulted in the death of about one in twenty people in the entire world of the time. We saw Timur in the posting on this blog, "Why We Should Understand The Mongols", May 2016. There was a succession of three empires, first the Mongols, then Timur and then the Mughals. Babur, the founder of the Mughals, is believed to be descended from Timur on his father's side and Genghis Khan on his mother's side.

Like the Arabs to the south, there has been periodic interest in a Pan-Turkic movement to achieve some degree of unity or common purpose among the Turkic people. The victories of Turkic conquerors have often been against other Turkic people. The reason that Constantinople lasted for so long, before being conquered by the Ottomans, is that the forces of Timur in the meantime attacked and inflicted a defeat on the Ottomans at the Battle of Ankara. That, as explained in "Symbolism Theory Of The Vatican And Hagia Sophia" is why I believe that three of the minarets that the Ottomans built around the Hagia Sophia are white but the other is red.

Although not near the combat, the Turkic nations that were Soviet republics were greatly affected by the Second World War. Their resources were urgently needed, they served in the Soviet military, and a lot of vital industry was relocated there for safety.

The Nazis, although they did not plan to occupy the area which was in Asia, remembered that there had been an uprising in 1916 by the Turkic people against conscription into the Russian Army while Russia was at war with Germany in the First World War. This was known as the Basmachi Movement. Seeing a chance to weaken the Soviet Union, with which they were at war, the Nazis encouraged the Pan-Turkic movement, and a rebellion against Russian rule, in the Second World War. There was a Turkic regiment, recruited from among Soviet prisoners of war, but were deployed only on the Nazis' Western Front, and not against their own country.

This is not all of Turkestan. The homeland of Turkic people continues eastward into China. The vast western region of the country that China calls Xinjiang is populated by the Uighurs, who are Turkic. They sometimes refer to the region as East Turkestan.

The country on the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea is Turkmenistan. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert. The country is rich in energy resources.

The capital city of Turkmenistan is Ashgabat. Unlike much in the region it is not an old city, being founded in 1881. This is what Ashgabat looks like today. The first eight images are from Google Street View.









There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9059569,58.381005,3a,75y,34.5h,112.12t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOmOQnKSe5PGrl0szrmwKHAV4eX9xtaDstW6IUR!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOmOQnKSe5PGrl0szrmwKHAV4eX9xtaDstW6IUR%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-22.121212-ya1.499999-ro-0-fo100!7i10240!8i3388

The entrance to Hell is in Turkmenistan. This is where sinners and unbelievers go into Hell. Image from Google Street View.



Actually, it is the Darvaza Gas Crater. The second image is from the Wikipedia article by that name. There was a collapse of the ground into a subterranean pocket during drilling and poisonous gas began leaking out. The gas was flammable so it was decided to set fire to it to burn it off as it emerged from the ground, and it is still burning over fifty years later.

The next country is Uzbekistan. Tashkent is a very old city, but the area is vulnerable to earthquakes and not much remains of it's ancient past. This city was part of the Silk Road at one time, and was destroyed by Mongols at another time. This is Tashkent today, as the capital of Uzbekistan. The first six images are from Google Street View.







https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3114164,69.2796296,3a,75y,9.63h,116.38t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNI5qBajbW-TPKQI6warmjixq0PukamUk7-QSVD!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNI5qBajbW-TPKQI6warmjixq0PukamUk7-QSVD%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-26.375-ya9.62499-ro-0-fo100!7i8928!8i4464

The city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan is also a very old city, from the 6th Century B.C. It has been the capital city of past kingdoms. Unlike Tashkent, so much from the past survives here that the whole city is like a museum. The first seven images are from Google Street View.








https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7727686,64.4197862,3a,75y,358.98h,115.97t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMBiZMMLTTF7l80iBZYWMGxcOMARLG4l_tle6P4!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMBiZMMLTTF7l80iBZYWMGxcOMARLG4l_tle6P4%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-25.973957-ya5.979148-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Here is more Islamic architecture from medieval times in Bukhara. The color of these domes became known as turquoise. You may notice that the word "turquoise" is similar to the word "Turkic".

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.777007,64.4094035,3a,75y,105.86h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipM97NloZWr6dxisvim1zzXF0ninvTi-ruE1VR4d!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM97NloZWr6dxisvim1zzXF0ninvTi-ruE1VR4d%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya88.29132-ro-0-fo100!7i10752!8i3670

Also in Uzbekistan is the fabulous city of Samarkand. This was the capital of Timur's (Tamerlane) empire. He was not only a conqueror, but also a very ambitious builder. The following scenes begin in Registan, which was the center of Samarkand. The first six images are from Google Street View.






When I was 7 years old, I was fascinated with the turquoise color of robin eggs. It was just like this dome.


https://www.google.com/maps/@39.654463,66.9756296,3a,75y,351.54h,107.3t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipORYb1bBNGMYfA6gTTesNps5psJyZDOV8A_PDB9!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipORYb1bBNGMYfA6gTTesNps5psJyZDOV8A_PDB9%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-17.296875-ya269.54163-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

This is more historic architecture in Samarkand. This city is unbelievable.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.660919,66.9809922,3a,75y,290.67h,120t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNmLzwi1aOa3Pc5cWbihmQ9qhkKV5sky805q9i6!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNmLzwi1aOa3Pc5cWbihmQ9qhkKV5sky805q9i6%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-30.000002-ya29.666655-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

The next country is Kyrgyzstan. The modern capital city of Bishkek is not an old city. The following scenes begin in it's central square. The first ten images are from Google Street View.







These four images are of the Central Mosque in Bishkek. It is yet another mosque styled on the Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, that we saw in "The House Of Holy Wisdom, Where The Modern World Began", January 2016.





https://www.google.com/maps/@42.8753659,74.6036833,2a,75y,147.54h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sJ_Og6iuClYJWloAfakqonQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DJ_Og6iuClYJWloAfakqonQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D155.01082%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Unlike Bishkek, Osh is an extremely old city in Kyrgyzstan. It may be older than Jerusalem. Like many other old Turkic cities, it was in an important position along the Silk Road.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5304505,72.7905334,2a,75y,80h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s3qu8gyoQ3ZcX8ocKwJAHEQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D3qu8gyoQ3ZcX8ocKwJAHEQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D80%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 

Our final stop in the region of Turkestan is the country of Tajikistan. It's capital city is Dushanbe, the name of which means "Monday". The Tajik language is actually a dialect of Persian. Tajikistan, as separate from Uzbekistan, is actually a Soviet-era creation. The following views are of Dushanbe. Even if you would rather be in a city named for Friday, than for Monday, Dushanbe is a nice place. The first nine images are from Google Street View. The building with the bright lights above it is the Parliament of Tajikistan.






These three images are of the Navruz Palace. It is a new building.




The Palace of the Nation is the residence of the President of Tajikistan.