First-time readers, this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020).  Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution.  More about Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1.  List and general description of entries to date.  Annual assessment whether Revolution plausible.

Note: most characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations.  Profile of characters.  You’ll catch on quickly.  Thanks for your time and interest…and comments. 

Scene: Jordan invited to dinner at the White House. POTUS’ family is away and he and Jordan are having dinner in the living quarters. POTUS asked the conversation not be about politics and suggested discussing a more fun topic such as the formation of the universe. Conversation begins #189.

Jordan: “By the way, what’s for dinner?”

POTUS: “For you, North Carolina pork BBQ. Just kidding. But we are having beef BBQ – Texas style.”

Jordan: “What a pleasant surprise. But I never think of BBQ and White House dinners in the same sentence.”

POTUS: “Usually not. In the living quarters, life is different. We try to eat like real people.”

Jordan: “Funny you mention that.”

POTUS: “You mean real people or food?”

Jordan: “Both. The other day someone asked me about the most fun time I could remember when food was involved.”

POTUS: “…and?”

Jordan: “I could remember the occasion but not what food was involved. What stuck with me was the fun with friends, not what we ate.”

POTUS: “So food doesn’t really matter?”

Jordan: “I’m no one’s connoisseur of food or wine. But I’ve eaten all over the world — in some great restaurants and not so great restaurants.”

POTUS: “So the food doesn’t really matter to you.”

Jordan: “The food can’t be awful. For me, though, the best part is being with friends.”

POTUS: “You told me one time about a group of friends that got together for dinner once a month. Some or all of the group met during the week for pizza. You had a funny name for those pizza dinners.”

Jordan: “We’d meet on Tuesday and the dinners were known as Crappy Pizza Tuesday.”

POTUS: “That’s it, Crappy Pizza Tuesday. Was the pizza that bad?”

Jordan: “Not really. We needed a name for the evening and Crappy Pizza Tuesday seemed to stick.”

POTUS: “Give me another example where you ate out, but food didn’t matter.”

Jordan: “When I worked in Manhattan and we lived in Connecticut, a group of guys used to meet Saturday mornings at the Driftwood Diner in Darien.”

POTUS: “Sounds like fun.”

Jordan: “It was great. We still see each other periodically but also all miss kibitzing at the diner.”

Waiter: “Mr. Abel, another glass of wine?”

Jordan: “Yes, Andrew, please. And where did that wine come from?”

Andrew: “Another one of your spots, sir. Sonoma County.”

Jordan: “It’s very good. Do either of you know what they make in Napa?”

Andrew: “Wine, sir?”

Jordan: “Nope. They make auto parts. An old Sonoma County joke.”

POTUS: “On that note, let’s eat and get back to our earlier conversation about the universe.”

Jordan: “Alright, back to using my brain again.”

POTUS: “Your question about where the matter for the Big Bang came from – when did you first think about that? Some physics class?”

Jordan: “Want the truth?”

POTUS: “Please.”

Jordan: “During summers when I was in undergrad, I worked in a Pepsi bottling plant.”

POTUS: “A real mentally taxing job.”

Jordan: “With one year of college I had more education than everyone on the floor except the plant manager. But I liked the guys and we had great fun.”

POTUS: “What’d you do at the plant?”

Jordan: “I moved up from loading trucks by hand to lift-truck operator. We worked lots of overtime so I would switch jobs occasionally. One night I was monitoring bottles coming out of the giant washer…”

POTUS: “…sounds really boring.”

Jordan: “It was boring. So I used the time to think about different things.”

POTUS: “That’s when the question about the Big Bang hit?”

Jordan: “Sort of an odd place to think about how the universe was formed, but, yes, that’s when the question hit me.”

POTUS: “You’re not the first guy to ask the question.”

Jordan: “Of course not. So far no one seems to have a credible answer.”

POTUS: “Some people might argue a higher being as responsible.”

Jordan: “I agree with that idea. Still the question remains, where did the higher being get the stuff for the Big Bang?”

POTUS: “If I interpret you correctly, you think earth could be part of an experiment in some being’s laboratory?”

Jordan: “Think about it. The universe is, in many ways, structured like a bunch of atoms and sub-atomic particles. The primary difference is size.”

POTUS: “Interesting point. We think sub-atomic particles are small and the universe as large. To someone else the universe could be small.”

Jordan: “Ever look through a microscope at say water from a murky pond?”

POTUS: “I did in biology class. Amazing all the little creatures that live in a few drops of water.”

Jordan: “To those little guys, how big does the pond seem…let alone a lake or ocean?”

POTUS: “Huge. To an amoeba, the distance from one side of a pond to another must measure billions of something.”

Jordan: “Distance is a relative measure. To the amoeba, the pond might as well be the Milky Way, maybe larger.”

POTUS: “Never thought about it before but what if humans are amoebas to some other set of beings?”

Jordan: “That’s my point. We don’t know. A lot of people on earth think humans are the highest level in the food chain – and the smartest.”

POTUS: “They also believe no human-like creatures exist anywhere else in the universe.”

Jordan: “To those who believe humans are unique, I have two questions: (i) what do you think the probability is that life exists only on one planet out of how many universes – millions, if not billions?”

POTUS: “Chances are just about zero. What’s the second question?”

Jordan: “Why should earthlings be the most advanced?”

POTUS: “You’re saying if there are 100 planets in the various universes that have life — 100 is probably low number but stick with it — then earth would have 1 in 100 chance of being the most advanced.”

Jordan: “Now you got it.”

POTUS: “All this while watching Pepsi bottles coming out of a washer?”

Jordan: “Strange, huh? Andrew, could you please…”

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