A substantial part of my online history consists of asking whether apparently
separate things fit together: light and life's handedness, stories and astronomical
memory, old drains and later events, familiar particles and an unfamiliar symmetry.
Those ideas are scattered between blogs, papers, forums and old personal pages.
This is deliberately a redundant index: a route through the same material
by the kind of question being asked, alongside the
history, discussion
and publication pages. It also gathers conjectures that
the earlier subject lists missed.
In asking for this page, I described my surprise at how little some of these
particular ideas had been taken up by others, unlike the conspicuous spread of
popular conspiracy stories. That is a recollection of reception, not a verified
claim that nobody has ever proposed or discussed anything similar. Several
originals credit other people; some have substantive replies. Circulation and
evidence are different questions.
How to read this page.
A physical hypothesis is not a conspiracy theory. Nor is every historical
reinterpretation an allegation of a hidden plot. Each entry identifies its kind
of claim and links the original argument; inclusion does not promote it to an
established result. Dates belong to the texts, unless stated otherwise.
Atmospheric light, ice and biological chirality
1997 question in the chronology · 27 April 2004 essay · mechanism clarified here on 20 September 2026
The idea I single out as the most far-reaching starts with an ordinary optical
combination, not a mysterious intrinsically life-selecting substance:
atmospheric Rayleigh scattering supplies linearly polarised skylight;
suitably oriented clear ice supplies birefringent retardation; the resulting
light could favour one molecular handedness.
Atmosphere. Scattered sunlight contains a linearly polarised component.
Ice. An appropriate crystal orientation and optical path act as a quarter-wave retarder (λ/4).
Light below the ice. That component acquires circular or elliptical polarisation.
Proposed biological step. Different interaction with mirror-image molecules might generate or favour a handedness bias.
The 2004 essay already proposes ice as the birefringent medium and discusses
linear-to-circular conversion, sea ice, seasons and possible hemispheric
asymmetries. It also considers selection at the stage of photosynthesis.
The explicit Rayleigh-scattering first step and emphasis on clean ice
are my present clarification; they should not be silently backdated as quotations
from that essay. The older 1997 photosynthesis message is still not recovered.
Editorial check: established optical ingredients, unresolved biological mechanism
Rayleigh scattering can polarise skylight, and ordinary crystalline ice is
birefringent. An ideal quarter-wave plate converts linear to circular polarisation
when the incident polarisation has equal components along its two axes; other
orientations generally give elliptical polarisation. These ingredients do not
by themselves establish the full biological hypothesis.
For a uniform idealised crystal, the retardation is
δ = 2π Δneff d / λ.
Quarter-wave behaviour requires δ = π/2 modulo π, with the sign
and orientation determining handedness. Transparency alone does not guarantee
the required retardation: wavelength, path length and crystal orientation matter.
The missing work is to calculate or measure the polarisation under realistic
ice, explain why opposite handedness would not cancel across directions, grains,
seasons and locations, and demonstrate a chemical selection and amplification
mechanism. A photosynthetic advantage also needs to be distinguished from an
explanation of an earlier origin of molecular homochirality.
These are questions for testing the proposal, not claims that those tests
have already been done. The original essay's rough thickness estimate is not
being adopted here as a verified optical design.
2003–2004, revisited in 2015 · Physical conjecture
A comparison between features of nuclear shell filling and mass scales associated with W, Z, the top quark and the then-discussed Higgs candidates. The proposed connection is stronger than merely listing similar numbers: it asks whether heavy-particle scales could leave a trace in nuclear stability. The early post also entertains a mathematical coincidence. These are historical comparisons, not a claim that the 2004 Higgs candidate was subsequently confirmed.
Mass relations: from a numerical puzzle to a proposed mechanism
2004–2006 · Numerical and physical conjectures
The lepton-mass notebook collects other people's relations, notably Hans de Vries's, and asks whether the pieces belong to one geometric puzzle. A later post tries to connect Koide's relation to interference between decay channels. The original relations, my proposed interpretations, and later research must not be confused: a precise numerical match does not by itself supply the dynamics.
Could familiar composite particles be the missing superpartners?
2005–2007; difficulties revisited in 2023 · Model-building conjecture
The pion–muon question grows into the sBootstrap: look among mesons and diquarks for bosonic partners rather than simply postulating a wholly new elementary spectrum. The trail includes the 2007 guest post and the later account of unresolved problems, including extra charged scalars and the mismatch between extended composites and point-like fermions. This is a continuing research proposal, not an observed supersymmetry.
Mercury, transmutation and the difference between energy and a mechanism
Undated essay and 2006 calculation · Physical speculation
The alchemy essay returns to a literal question about transmutation; the later mercury note compares isotope masses and possible products. The essential distinction is between an energetically allowed change and a practical way of inducing it. Neither the historical story nor the mass arithmetic demonstrates a working low-energy transmutation process.
Hidden histories, myths and the transmission of knowledge
Democritus, Tao and the relation between matter and void
2003–2006 · Comparative historical conjecture
The proposal is not just that two philosophical traditions sound alike: it compares chronology, wording and later developments in mathematics and alchemy. The Heart Sutra note extends the comparison while explicitly noticing the late date of the text being read. Similarity is the starting clue; a historical transmission route would require separate evidence.
Reading ancient mathematics through modern calculus
1999–2000 · Mathematical reconstruction and historical imagination
The cone problem attributed to Democritus becomes a way to construct infinitesimal objects from finite ones; the imagined Christmas lecture revisits the origins of calculus from a modern perspective. These texts explore what can be reconstructed or reinterpreted, rather than documenting a secret survival of modern calculus in antiquity.
Can Ptolemy's coordinates give back the roads used to make his map?
2006 account of earlier work · Computational historical hypothesis
If coordinates were reconstructed from itineraries, their pairwise distances might preserve preferred units and routes. The proposed test is to find those patterns and see whether they recover known roads before trusting unknown ones. The post credits work with Álvaro Capalvo and an earlier attempt by Mariano Santander; it explicitly says the initial analysis was inconclusive.
The Arthurian Grail as a story travelling along the pilgrim routes
2004 · Historical transmission hypothesis
The suggested route runs from traditions around San Juan de la Peña and Aragón, through the cultural traffic of the Camino de Santiago, into French Arthurian writing. It separates a hypothesis about the literary Grail from the much stronger claim that the surviving Valencia cup really belonged to the Last Supper. The argument is about how a story travelled, not proof of the relic's authenticity.
Undated GeoCities text; revisited in 2014–2015 · Mnemonic hypothesis
Starting from Florence and Kenneth Wood's astronomical reading of Homer, the suggestion is that the sky could help a storyteller remember a catalogue. Lists of demonic or celestial armies offer a comparison in method. The original text acknowledges the absence of a demonstrated influence between the catalogues: this is not a literal identification of Homeric warriors with demons.
The four corners and protective figures of familiar prayers are read against celestial directions and seasons. The essay then proposes associations with the summer triangle, Solomon's bottle as a celestial model, and cards as teaching tools. These are several related guesses, not one established genealogy of prayer, ritual or tarot.
Alchemy: experiments becoming allegories, and back again
Undated essay · Speculative history of knowledge
A recurring idea is that practical knowledge can be obscured when failed experiments are reinterpreted as purely spiritual allegory. The essay imagines modern radioactivity encouraging an experimental return among occultists. Its particular historical connections are conjectural; the interest is in how techniques can be lost, disguised or rediscovered.
The culeca: an old shape, fertility imagery and a word
2004 · Folklore conjecture
A baker's traditional female-shaped pastry prompts comparison with fertility imagery and prehistoric figurines. The post preserves Javier Lerín's local testimony, but also notes that the resemblance to the figurines is limited. A later author comment turns toward the local vocabulary of eggs and brooding. A recorded local custom is firmer ground than a proposed prehistoric continuity.
Enkidu, bread and beer: ritual or the signs of civilisation?
2007 · Comparative reading
The post credits Enver with noticing a resemblance between Enkidu's civilising meal and communion. My discussion moves through translations, washing and combing as signs of becoming civilised. The resemblance is a question to investigate, not proof that one ceremony directly descends from the other.
Rosslyn: what if the image came before the initiation?
2006 · Reversal of a familiar secret-society story
Rather than treating a carving as evidence of an already existing Masonic ceremony, the post asks whether a later ceremony could have borrowed from the carving. That reversal matters: an interest in secret societies need not mean accepting the usual story of an unbroken hidden lineage.
Pirahã myths as a memory of historical catastrophe
2010 · Historical interpretation of ethnographic material
Against accounts portraying the Pirahã as lacking mythology, the essay asks whether stories of survivors and changed social roles could preserve the effects of warfare and demographic loss. This is my interpretation of other people's records, not fieldwork or a demonstrated account of the community's history.
Two claims must be kept apart. The milder one reads the letters and intermediary in Los baños de Argel as a familiar fraud structure turned into a happy ending. The stronger one imagines Cervantes himself devising such schemes during captivity. The post expressly presents that second reading as exaggerated and acknowledges alternative explanations. It is not a verified accusation about his life.
Hidden causes, institutions and conspiracy narratives
The Moncloa contamination hypothesis
2014–2015, with a 2016 follow-up comment · Environmental and political conjecture
A three-post sequence asks whether material from the 1970 JEN radioactive release could have reached Moncloa through old drainage, leaks or irrigation, and whether this could help explain later illness among people associated with the site. The second post sketches possible routes; the third extends the speculation to Eduardo Navarro.
The release itself is independently documented by Spain's nuclear regulator. That does not verify the proposed palace contamination route, anyone's exposure or a medical cause. The posts do not establish deliberate poisoning. Their possible hidden connection is preserved here as a hypothesis, not a diagnosis or a solved conspiracy.
Did construction encourage corruption—or did corruption favour construction?
2006 and 2014 · Economic and political hypotheses
The 2006 housing note asks whether tax incentives help explain the boom. The 2014 essay reverses another causal story: instead of only asking how construction money corrupts politics, ask whether corrupt political incentives select industries that can finance and negotiate with them. This is a proposed incentive mechanism, not evidence for one centrally organised plot; the personal allegations in the original are not adopted as established findings here.
The Trilateral Commission: a list is not yet a conspiracy theory
2008 · Documentary note in a conspiratorial neighbourhood
The entry reproduces selected membership information obtained by email and links discussions of Freemasonry and related subjects. It belongs on this page because of those surrounding interests, but its actual content is a membership list, not an argument proving secret coordination. Keeping that distinction avoids inventing a theory the post does not contain.
A workshop for conjectures instead of a choice between silence and acclaim
2005 · Reflection on how ideas are received
The ArchiveFreedom note discusses exclusion and moderation, but also worries that rejection may give ideas more notoriety than they deserve. Its constructive suggestion is a workshop where a short proposal can receive missing references and corrections. The point is to make an idea inspectable, not to treat rejection as evidence that it is right.
Keep the correction attached: the Guam reading note
2009 · Reading conjecture with an author's correction
The note begins with a guess about birds in a discussion prompted by Oliver Sacks; my comment corrects the animal to fruit bats. It is a small example of why the reply and correction belong with the conjecture. This historical note is not medical advice or an independent explanation of disease.
Public discussionsforums and other people's blogs where some proposals were actually debated
Papers and preprintsthe formal record, distinct from the status of a speculative blog entry
This is a selected guide, not a priority claim or an exhaustive review of the
literature. Spam and other people's comments are not attributed to me. Where an
original source is missing, the gap remains visible.