2,000 Posts For Dredd Blog

Today's post is the 2,000th post on Dredd Blog.

It is hard work to research subjects and share ideas for free and without advertising, but it can be and has been done.

When bloggers contemplate strenuous posting activity from time to time we notice an ebb and flow, a swinging back and forth from major events to minor events that can end up making the selection of subjects to blog about more difficult at times.

Like writers cramp, selecting material is somewhat impacted by a history of interests, like fluctuating gravity perhaps, in that, some of us see fluctuations or oscillations while others do not:

F = G (M₁ * M₂)
     R²

In that formula "G" represents the gravitational "constant" which, as it turns out, is not constant in the usual sense of the word:

The official CODATA value for G in 1986 was given as G=(6,67259±0.00085) x 10^-11 m³ Kg^-1 s^-2 and was based on the Luther and Towler determination in 1982. However, the value of G has been recently called into question by new measurements from respected research teams in Germany, New Zealand, and Russia in order to try to settle this issue. The new values using the best laboratory equipment to-date disagreed wildly to the point that many are doubting about the constancy of this parameter and some are even postulating entirely new forces to explain these gravitational anomalies. For example, in 1996, a team from the German Institute of Standards led by W. Michaelis obtained a value for G that is 0.6% higher than the accepted value; another group from the University of Wuppertal in Germany led by Hinrich Meyer found a value that is 0.06% lower, and in 1995, Mark Fitzgerald and collaborators at Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand measured a value that is 0.13% lower. The Russian group found a curious space and time variation of G of up to +0.7%. In the early 1980s, Frank Stacey and his colleagues measured G in deep mines and bore holes in Australia. Their value was about 1% higher than currently accepted. In 1986 Ephrain Fischbach, at the University of Washington, Seattle, claimed that laboratory tests also showed a slight deviation from Newton's law of gravity, consistent with the Australian results. As it may be seen from the Cavendish conference data, the results of the major 7 groups may agree with each other only on the level 10^-1%. So, despite our great technology advancements in measuring equipment, we are still very close to the precision of 1% obtained by Cavendish in the 17th century. This controversy has spurred several efforts to make a more reliable measurement of G, but till now we only got further conflicting results.
...
It is not a coincidence that ALL Cavendish and free fall setup experimental results fit within the same upper and lower boundary limits of 6.645E-11 to 6.715E-11, equivalent to -0.43% and +0.611% relative to the present (average) value from CODATA. What scientists seem to be missing is that G is oscillating within these two boundaries, and any experiment will give the value of G at the particular point in time of the oscillation. It means that all experimental data points shown above are in fact tracing an oscillating curve.

(Gravity Variations, emphasis added). Human history and the gravity in the universe oscillate even though we tend to think of them in linear, sequential, and constant terms.

But, we do tend to suspect that human history repeats itself, or perhaps oscillates between "really good" and "really bad".

Perhaps that oscillation is somewhat like the oscillation which the gravitational constant seems to go through.

Depending on the impact that any such oscillation of "G" would have on protons or molecules, it might cause some proton tunnelling mutation in DNA that it otherwise would not:

"The analysis of the original proton wave packet involves an interesting phase problem, and, since the energy distribution is temperature dependent, the whole phenomenon is also temperature dependent."
...
"The tunneling times will depend essentially on the height and the form of the barrier. In DNA, the form of the double-well potentials regulating the hydrogen bonds depend not only on the base pair involved but also on neighboring pairs, their net charges, and the entire electric environment. The tunneling time is hence not only characteristic for a certain biological specimen but is also a function of the position in the DNA molecule involved. The tunneling time is very likely also temperature dependent, even if the protons are well shielded in the double helix. The main problem is whether the tunneling time is very short in comparison to the replication time, or whether there exist organisms where the penetration of the barrier is slow in comparison to the replication." 
...
"It should always be remembered that, in Born's interpretation of quantum mechanics, the quantity |¥|² represents the probability density for finding the proton in a specific position. The tunneling of the wave packet is hence a time-dependent process which is going to influence the properties of the genetic code."
...
"In this connection, it should be observed that the tunneling probabilities depend not only on the base pair involved but also on the electrostatic environment, the neighboring base pairs, etc., which may explain the occurrence of "hot spots."
...
At a DNA replication, the protons have to "choose sides," and the proton code immediately after a DNA replication represents actually a nonstationary state from the quantum-mechanical point of view. The time evolution of the system and particularly the penetration of the potential barrier in the double-well potential represents a loss of the genetic code which should perhaps be considered as the primary cause of aging. The aging is thus a process which

Abiotic Mutation

goes on continuously in the DNA molecule but gets "manifested" at the replications.
...
Proton tunneling may finally be of importance in connection with the occurrence of spontaneous tumors. The growth of an individual is a highly refined balance between factors which enhance the cell duplication and other factors which limit this duplication so that the organism takes a specific shape. The entire process is stimulated and controlled by various enzymes, and there is a feedback from the environment about which we know, at present, very little. If there is a somatic mutation, i.e., a change of the genetic code in a DNA molecule in the body of an organism, the change may influence the protein synthesis and the balance between the enhancing and controlling enzyme actions in the growth cycle. Actually, the new genetic code may lead to the development of a "new individual" within the individual, i.e., a tumor."
...
"In this paper we have pointed out that, since the protons are not classical particles but "wave packets" obeying the laws of modern quantum theory, the genetic code cannot --in spite of all precautions-- be 100% stable. Due to the quantum-mechanical "tunnel effect," there is always a small but finite probability that the protons will change place, alter the genetic code, and give rise to mutations. This implies also that this transfer of protons over a distance of about 10^-8 cm may be one of the driving forces in the evolution of living organisms on the earth."

(The Uncertain Gene, quoting Löwdin). Keep in mind that gravity is a "weak" force when compared to some other forces, however, at times it would not take so much to nudge the proton into the tunnel.

Which might mean that a mutation would result.

Subject matter of post contents on blogs goes through that too.

For example, on the social side of life, the gravitation towards war waxes and wanes, i.e. it oscillates like "G" does.

So, we can imagine a formula:

F = W (N₁ * N₂)
     P²

Where "W" is the warmonger constant, "N" is a nation's proclivity to war, and "P" is the people's ability to keep their government in line.

We see war rhetoric a lot, and the news seems to indicate that we get closer to war ... then further from it ... as history oscillates back and forth like gravitation.

Bloggers feel these tugs and pulls from time to time, and those tugs and pulls have an impact on what we blog about, and what readers want to read.

I will try to find interesting subjects for readers as long as I can.

It is said that spontaneous citizen journalist blogs like Dredd Blog tend to be active for about two years.

Note that Dredd Blog is halfway through its 6th year now.

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