One speculative theory about the cosmos is that the universe is floating in a flat "brane", as in membrane, like a slice of bread, that exists possibly in a higher spatial dimension that is so large we can't even conceive of it (as if we can conceive of even the size of our own universe), much less point to it.

However, ours isn't the only universe, and it's floating in what is not the only brane. There are others; slices in a loaf of bread. Where they came up with this, I don't know. A bakery wouldn't surprise me. It sure isn't the model I would pick for the universe.

The part that intrigues me, though, is the part of the theory that suggests that every once in a while, every several trillion, trillion years or so, branes interact. They smack up against one another.

Current observations suggest that our universe is not only expanding, but the expansion is accelerating. If the expansion and acceleration continue, in the far distant future, the universe will stretch itself out of any meaningful existence. Quantum atomic components will come apart.

But it's the smacking of the branes that might shock a universe into another big bang, another cycle of cosmic existence, timescales of a Hindu nature.

Smacking each other, bumping each other, touching each other, like bumping arms with a stranger who you had just caught eyes with moments before, on a sidewalk curb waiting for the light to change. And then it seems the clashing of branes creating a universe is the most intimate thing imaginable.


Opening roll with my new Rainbow V 22mm ultra-wide angle toy camera.

It's a knock-off of the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim and the main attraction is the 22mm plastic lens. No controls, just a shutter button; a true, literal point-and-shoot.

Nanjing E. Rd., Sec. 5, Lane 251, a.k.a. my lane. Ilford XP2 Super

Ongoing MRT construction on Nanjing E. Rd.

Dongxing Road

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 3:38 p.m. - Miramar Mall, Dazhi, Neihu District.