Glossary of Terms

acceleration:

Technically, this is any instance of changing speed or direction; and as in a passenger car, you sense it by the lurch, by the tug. Yet gravity causes a wholly different kind of acceleration, freefall, not betrayed by sensory clues, as when coasting ever faster downhill.

continuum:

a continuous succession, no part of which can be distinguished from neighboring parts except by arbitrary division.

covariant:

Loosely, this means simply ‘mutual’, that is, varying according to one observer’s vantage point to the same manner and degree that the observed entity finds the first to be variant.

dissynchronicity:

a deviation from perfect synchronicity.

ethereal signal:

This term refers to any of the myriad forms of electromagnetic radiation, most notably visible light, but also including X-rays, radio waves, microwaves, gamma rays and infrared radiation. The word “ethereal”, meaning insubstantive or without mass, ought not be confused with the pre-relativity notion that light waves propagate in an unseen medium termed “The Ether”.

G-force:

the force of gravity, or an equivalent tugging resulting from a vehicle’s acceleration.

gyroscope:

a device consisting of a spinning mass, typically a disk or wheel, mounted on a base so that its axis can turn freely in one or more directions and thereby maintain its orientation regardless of any movement of the base.

inertial frame:

a hypothetical frame of reference whose motion, if any, is utterly straight, steady and unaltered by external forces. Because gravity is everywhere, such an ideal frame of reference can exist only in the mind.

metric [noun]:

an ordered system of time and space coordinates for the mapping of events.

perspective:

the skewed ways in which remote things might ‘come across’ depending on how they be situated, and the observer’s vantage.

proprietary:

exclusive to one owner.

rectilinear:

This means “characterized by straight lines”, most notably ones that are at right angles to each other and thus form the familiar 2D or 3D Cartesian coordinate system for the precise mapping of spatial locations.

Terra Firma:

solid ground; a characterization of our Earth, implying a place of absolute stability.

time dilation:

the perceived expansion of time spans, notably, the apparent slowing down of moving clocks.

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