THE WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE
THE ORIGIN, GROWTH AND RETRACTION OF EVERYTHING...
This web-site has presented one of the major achievements in human history:
the settlement and development of America and the westward expansion that
followed, each filled with struggle and hardships, even involuntary death,
but also filled with promises.
The next frontier presenting itself to the descendants of these people is
the development of a new frontier beyond our planet and the development of
new frontiers in our minds. Few things are as important as our imagination,
a tool not only useful in our daily practical life but also as a guideline
for our own development and the progress of our personal maturity.
This section of the web-site - under the "Modern West" heading - will explore
this territory and invite all viewers to participate by adding their insights
and knowledge to our effort to find the reasonable truth in our search for a
better understanding of ourselves, where we came from, why are we here and
where we are heading. I will try not to present you with predrawn conclusions
but with facts as I find them and, on a separate comments page, with my own
beliefs. Based on this foundation, I hope you will be able to examine your
own beliefs and perhaps adjust some of them by what you find here. But my aim
is not to make you change your beliefs. If you are happy with your beliefs,
I urge you to continue to believe in what you believe in. There are already
too many people that want to impose their will and beliefs on you, and I do
not want to be one of them. Rather, I would like to encourage an inquiring
mind and
guide you to question what you thought was obvious or "the truth". You
may want to participate in the "discussion forum" (currently under construction
but will be on-line soon) so we all can be enlightened by others' opinions
with the goal to find a more or less common understanding of ourselves, our
environment, our origins and what may lie ahead.
Most of the information is generated by links to other web-sites. There are
advantages and disadvantages with this approach. The main advantage is that
other people - presumably knowledgeable about the subject - have devoted a
lot of time and energy to put specialized information together which I could
not have done. The disadvantage is that there is no practical way to ensure
that the content is accurate. To minimize the risk of presenting "out-of-line"
or even "weird" content, I have provided my best effort to scrutinize the
content and, with the help of major search engines, I have tried to only
select web-sites of the highest quality as far as I can determine. Even so,
the quality varies substantially between the selected sites.
Please keep in mind that in science the "truth" is many times not absolute.
A FACT is an experiment or observation that has been and can be repeated and
confirmed by other scientists at any time. Everything else are THEORIES
that still need to be confirmed in parts or as a whole. Even if some theories
should be classified as "myths", I refer to them as "theories" here. A theory
can be subject to many different interpretations, or rather OPINIONS, of which
you will find many on these pages.
The question is, can you draw your own conclusions based on available FACTS,
THEORIES and OPINIONS? If you keep an open and analytical mind, and avoid
dogmatic influences, I think you can. (And, of course, you don't have to make
up your mind - these are eternal questions that may have no answers.)
Despite so many advances and discoveries during modern times, we are still at
the stone-age when it comes to our understanding of the universe and the
phenomenon of life.
Later on these pages, I will elaborate on where I believe we stand today
(see the "comments" page which you can reach below). Meanwhile, I suggest
you go through the FACTS, THEORIES and OPINIONS as they are presented here
which I hope will enlighten you a bit (hopefully not confuse you even more).
Also, return to these pages often as you may want to follow up on the current
Pathfinder mission to Mars and other information that will continuously be
posted here. You may also want to participate in the planned "discussion
forum" at a later date.
Let us begin to explore what we know now by starting with some programs of
current explorations by the introduction of the following links to other
web-sites:
WHAT WE HAVE BEFORE US...
FACTS AND THEORIES
41. Update 12/4/96 on the Pathfinder mission:
The $196 million Pathfinder began its seven-month, 310 million-mile journey
early today with a successful launching at Cape Canaveral, Fla., to land at
a dry flood plain named Ares Vallis, which at one time is believed to have
contained water that still might be in existence underground.
The craft sped away from Earth's orbit at 23,000 mph, with flight controllers
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena stating that Pathfinder was
on course and performing well.
This is the second craft that NASA has dispatched toward Mars in less than a
month, opening what is expected to be a concentrated 10-year program of Mars
exploration. The other craft is the Mars Global Surveyor, launched November 7,
with plans to map the planet, study its geology and identify possible sites
for future landings.
Pathfinder's 22-pound roving vehicle, Sojourner, moving at less than one inch
per second, is expected to photograph and test the martian rocks and soil and
find out what they are made of. Two more American flights to Mars are scheduled
in 1998.
From now on I will leave you with NASA's daily update website for the latest news: Pathfinder Mission News - Daily Update
ASTRONOMY & OBSERVATORIES
1.
2. Mount Wilson Observatory
3. Mount Wilson Observatory - Historical Pictures Archive
4. Palomar Observatory
5. Mount Palomar Observatory - Images
6.
7. Astronomy Sites on the Web
8.
9. National Radio Astronomy Observatory Home Page
10.
11. Cambridge Astronomy, U.K.
12. Royal Greenwich Observatory, U.K.
13. Astronomy and Space on the Internet
14. T.R. Arthur's Astronomy Home Page
15. CEA Science On-Line Education Project
16. Yahoo! List of Sources in Astronomy
17. Steven's Astronomy Home Page
18. NASA Remote Sensing Public Access Center - NASA Observatorium
19. Astronomy
Good information about how to get started in astronomy.
20.
21. National Air & Space Museum Homepage (Smithsonian)
Other notable resources:
22. Los Alamos National Laboratory Homepage
THEORIES AND OPINIONS
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
With your common sense intact, add some skepticism, and a grain of salt, and with both feet on the ground, this could be an interesting and rewarding exploration of objects that remain unidentified, or at least lack - in many minds - a satisfactory explanation.
1. The Roswell Incident 1947
2. UFO Library
3. Area 51 Source Page
4. Area 51
5. Larry Hatch's UFO Database. These pages are well researched, fast loading and free of commercial junk.
6. BUFORA - On-Line
7. National UFO Reporting Center
8. Faking UFOs
9. MUFON WWW Page
10. CRULP: Project Hessdalen (Norway/Sweden)
(CRULP = Committee for Research on Unidentified Light Phenomena
11. UFO Sweden
12. Ufoclopedia - Index
13. The Museum of Unnatural Mystery Homepage
ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF LIFE
1. Human Origins Bookmarks
2. Darwin and Evolution Overview
3. Creation Science
4. The Origin of Life - An Examination of Evolution v/s Creationism (No longer valid, but check http://writing.samford.edu for some other interesting student papers)
5. Creationism v/s Evolution
Frequently Encountered Criticisms
6. Are Darwinism and Christianity Incompatible?
7. Links on Evolutionary Theory and Memetics
Note: The Vatican and the Pope recently issued a statement that there is evidence enough for the Vatican to accept the theory of "Evolution"
in addition to the theory of "Creationism" which is the theory supported by the Bible scriptures.
8. Origins of Humankind
KNOWING YOURSELF
1. Gudmund Rapp's "Man Know Thyself"
Självkännedom.
RELIGIONS
1. Major Religions of the World
2. Description of Major Religions
3. Why Fundamentalism is Wrong
4. Pantheism: A History
5. The Perils of Faith
6. The Origin Web Network
7. Religious Studies Internet Links
Lots of links on this one. You could spend a full day just exploring this single web-site.
8. The Word of God in English
9. Spiritual Insights
10. Scientific Evidences of the Bible's Inspiration
Probably a wonderful site for strong believers but, in my opinion, a slightly dogmatic site. However, they feature a nice search engine.
11. "How to Run the World"
This site presents, among many other matters, an interesting view of Ethnic and Religious Hatred.
12. The Existence of God (The Fit of Biological Structures)
13. Building a World of True Love
14. Atheist Links
15. The Dead Sea Scrolls - Introduction
16. The Dead Sea Scrolls
17. The Dead Sea Scrolls - Qumran Library
18. Archaeology in the Bible - Dead Sea Scrolls
19. The Dead Sea Scrolls - Conclusion
20. Who and What is God?
21. Destructive Sects
This is an interesting site, especially considering the recent events concerning suicide sects, like the one "Heavens Gate", that we had here in San Diego (Rancho Santa Fe). Unfortunately, this website is in Swedish, but they carry a lot of links most of them in English. Worth exploring.
Religions or Philosophies? You decide! (meditation and humanist sites).
The interesting readings of David Hurst, The Creative Mind Centre, Australia:
As a starter, he writes: The Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, is not a person, nor is it an object, and it does not have its location in the physical but in the mental. It resides in all consciousness...
22. God, the Inner Possession
23. The Expanding Universe
24. The Knowable God
25. Relating to God
26. Start with Yourself
27. Of Science & God
Other Readings:
28. American Humanist Association
29. Secular Humanism Web
30. The New Divinity (Julian Huxley)
31. The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Humanities
32. The Skeptics Dictionary
Respected Preachers:
30. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
31. Billy Graham Special Events
--- Dr. W.A. Criswell of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.
32. I would have liked to be able to present a web-page from Mother Theresa, another very respected religious person, but as far as I know, no web-page is currently online.
This list seem far too short. Could you fill me in on any other widely respected persons?
PHILOSOPHIES
1. Resources for Philosophers
2. Information Systems of Interest to Philosophers
3. The American Philosophical Association
4. The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Philosophy
5. Philosophy on the Web
6. Björn's Guide to Philosophy - Other Links
7. Sean's One-Stop Philosophy Shop
8. The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics
9. Mountain Man Graphics, Australia (Small Island of Inner Space)
10. "Ask Grandpa"
"Ask Grandpa" is a little bit "off the wall" web-site that attempts to cover many of the subjects brought up here. Although the title implies it is possible to communicate with "Grandpa", there is no indication of any address, email or otherwise. However, many interesting thoughts are raised so I think it deserves a place here.
Having read this, can we arrive at any conclusions? The answer is that we may be able to arrive at a few conclusions but much more probably needs to be digested and thought about for some time. Some questions might not have an answer.
However, I would suggest that you continue to read The Universe - Comments on a separate page. You are also invited to contribute information content and your voice.
Go to the NEWS UPDATE PAGE for the latest news.
Please feel free to contact me at the email address below (or on the separate comments page) in case you would like to comment, point out spelling errors or erroneous factual information, or if you would like to contribute with information content or suggestions for links to add, etc.
Send us E mail.
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The motor car gave us a nation.
The airplane gave us the world.
The space station will give us the universe.
"Anonymous - 1985 - (submitted by Brad Jefferson)"