[clarification alert]
one day the universe will begin to contract and time (as we know it) will stop
tsuwm - I think I buy your theory, but I wanted to be sure how you meant the above. Following your description, I see time beginning after that big ol' bang, and expanding as the universe does. But does time stop when the universe begins contracting, or does time just begin to contract at that point, only stopping when we get to the final Big Squeeze? If time stops when the universe begins contracting, when does the contraction happen?
[flashback alert] when does the contraction happen? how far apart are the contractions? how long do they last? Hey - maybe it's all just one very, very long birthing process - but what's being born?
And after the Big Squeeze, where the hell are we all going to find parking spaces?
