- 13.7 billion years
- 4.568 billion years
- 4.48 billion years
- 714 million years
- 100 million years
- 65 million years
- 44 million years
- 25 million years
- 22 million years
- 21 million years
- 17 million years
- 50,000 years
- 1,978 years
- 1,000 years
- 804 years
- 100 years
- 45 years
- 20 years
- 17 years
- 13 years
- 10 years
- 8 years
- 4 years
- 1 year
- 5 months
- 1 month
- 20 days
- 19 days
- 5 days
- 2 days
13,700,000,000 years ago
The universe explodes into existence out of one small, dense dot.
Why isn't the universe perfectly symmetrical? Why can't we look out onto the other side of the big bang, and see our mirror image?
The universe is uneven. Unbalanced. Unsmooth. It is full of clumps and lumps.
We are like particles of dust, swirling through an unstoppable, expanding sinkhole, as it carves itself out of some other earth.
4,568,000,000 years ago
A white dwarf star in the Milky Way Galaxy explodes as a supernova. The shock wave hits a nearby nebula of gas, causing a clustering of material which condenses into our Solar System.
Nothing happens in smoothness. In an undisturbed cloud, there is no conflict, no creativity.
Action requires a hole. A hole creates an edge, and the edge is where things meet to become other things.
4,480,000,000 years ago
A small planet collides with a young Earth, destroying the small planet and gouging a giant hole in the earth. The leftover debris coalesces and becomes the moon.
Every hole has a past, a life lived as something else.
Every hole also creates a future. But that future is not for itself. A hole is nothing, but it is also an opportunity for something other than itself.
714,000,000 years ago
In the marshlands of the planet Unbraikea in the Pinwheel Galaxy, a mantisoid species called "Allien" becomes the first sentient life form in the universe.
An Allien named Jaramu Briwn trips into a bed of hexreeds. His oversized snout gets caught in one of the reed flowers. His embarrassment turns to joy when he discovers a beautiful symbiosis between the two species. 600 million years of co-evolved stability and peace follow.
100,000,000 years ago
An Allien named Bell Jymas begins to question the behavior of his society. "We've done things this way for 600 million years. Why? If nothing ever changes, what's the point?" he asks. Jymas is mostly ignored by his fellow Alliens.
When we feel crowded, we seek to create holes. When we feel empty, we seek fulfillment. We yearn for an easy, soothing uniformity in our lives.
It's a rare and remarkable event when an intelligent being wants to pokes holes in a fulfilling existence.
65,000,000 years ago
Back on Earth, a 6-mile wide asteroid crashes into the Yucatan Peninsula. The resulting impact hole sends so much debris into the atmosphere that all the dinosaurs died.
The large hole in the ecosystem left by the death of the dinosaurs creates an opportunity for some small, mammalian survivors to move in and fill it.
44,000,000 years ago
An Allien named Bellu Bayna decides to test out Jymas' theories. He leaves the safety and comfort of his grassy reed nest, and ascends Mount Nervyny. For 40 days and 40 nights, he meditates, resisting the temptation to return to his old, easy life. Following his example, Alliens enter the most dynamic and creative era in their history.
The leader of a movement usually accomplishes little but to point out the center of a hole. It's the first follower who is key, for this is the one who brings the shovel and starts digging.
25,000,000 years ago
Nearly every ecosystem on Earth is colonized by mammals. But one group of mammalian monkeys discovers a remaining unexploited hole in their ecosystem. They leave the safety of the trees, and begin to regularly forage for food on the ground.
This group of monkeys, called "Hominoids" or "Apes", lose their tails, and eventually evolve into several distinct genera: gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans.
22,000,000 years ago
Kan Yrnasin, a follower of Bellu Bayna's movement, composes an artwork expanding on Bayna's ideas, entitled "On Sockets". Of the work, fellow follower Mahmyttske says, "Well, the reednet is over, this work won. Thanks for playing everybody."
"On Sockets" becomes generally regarded as the pinnacle of Allien civilization. Allien society soon thereafter begins a long descent into disunity, selfishness and ignorance, the combination of which makes them fail to understand the gravity of their impending disaster until it was too late to stop it.
21,000,000 years ago
A white dwarf star 20 light years from Unbraikea goes supernova. The resulting shock wave blows a hole in the atmosphere of Unbraikea, and all the Alliens perish.
When Alliens realize they are doomed, their culture descends into a violent, nihilistic, destructive rage.
A brave few try to overcome the desperately long and unfair odds. They broadcast their consciousness out into the expanse of the universe, hoping that someday, somewhere, it will find a recipient who can make their their existence matter.
17,000,000 years ago
The Colorado River begins carving out the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona, creating the Grand Canyon.
Is a hole an act of construction, or destruction? Does it matter whether a hole is intentional or not?
Does it change our judgment of a thing if we know there's an artist behind it, skillfully and willfully causing it to happen?image credit: Ken Arneson
50,000 years ago
A rock about 50m wide slams into Arizona, forming Meteor Crater.
Two large scars in the face of an otherwise flat, dry Arizona desert. One is considered among the most beautiful, defining features of the planet Earth; the other is thought of more as an unsightly blemish.
What is the difference between a hole that is beautiful and one that is ugly?
1,978 years ago
Roman authorities kill Jesus Christ by nailing holes into a wooden cross through his hands and feet.
Some holes go beyond mere ugliness. Some holes make us recoil in horror or disgust.
The idea that God, from whose breath this holey universe originated, would Himself come and willingly participate in both the joys and the suffering of human life, is a great comfort to many.image credit: Mattias Grünewald
1,000 years ago
In order to avoid religious persecution for his scientific work, Ibn al-Haytham, a/k/a Alhazen, a Persian scientist working in Egypt, feigns madness. He is placed under house arrest for 10 years. During this time he begins writing his influential Book of Optics.
Many, if not most, of the technologies which involve manipulating light passing through a hole were built atop the principles spelled out in Alhazen's work. A madman may not seem to be of any consequence. But telescopes, cameras, and eyeglasses certainly do.image credit: Wikipedia
804 years ago
The poet Rumi is born.
"A craftsman pulled a reed from the reedbed,
cut holes in it, and called it a human being.
Since then, it's been wailing a tender agony
of parting, never mentioning the skill
that gave it life as a flute."
One century ago, H. T. Hallowell, Sr., founder of Standard Pressed Steel Company, invents the hex key.
Hallowell suffers the usual fate of pioneers, seeing someone else get famous for his work. During World War II, the hex key becomes more commonly known as the "Allen Wrench", a trademark of the Allen Manufacturing Company, a competitor of Standard Pressed Steel.
Ken Arneson is born just a short distance from where the Beatles hold their final concert.
Meanwhile, 4,000 holes mysteriously appear in Blackburn, Lancashire.
From this data, scientists are finally able to calculate the hole unit volume of the Albert Hall.
September 1, 1991
Ken Arneson exchanges wedding rings with his wife.
A wedding ring is a round piece of metal with a hole in it. The circular shape, without beginning or end, is meant to symbolize the eternal nature of love.
April 8, 1994
"And if you save yourself
You will make him happy
He'll keep you in a jar
And you'll think you're happy
He'll give you breathing holes
And you'll think you're happy
He'll cover you with grass
And you'll think you're happy now"
August 20, 1998
Louis Sachar publishes a book named "Holes." It includes a poem about one animal who wants to create a hole, and another who wants to fill one.
"If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs,
"The bark on the tree was as soft as the skies."
While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely,
Crying to the moo-oo-oon,
"If only, If only."
September 11, 2001
Ten years and ten days after Ken Arneson wed, he wakes up to a giant hole in his living room wall. Contractors had removed a chimney as part of a small remodeling project.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, terrorists use airplanes to make holes in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Ken Arneson's hole is trivial, easily and quickly repaired.
The friends and loved ones of 3,000 people who died that day suffered a hole in their lives that cannot be refilled.image credit: Ken Arneson
May 10, 2003
Oily sebum clogs a hair follicle on Ken Arneson's head. A hole exposes the sebum to the air, oxidizing the oil and turning it into an unsightly blackhead.
Meanwhile, Michael Lewis publishes "Moneyball", a book about Billy Beane, who discovers an unexploited hole in the Major League Baseball ecosystem.
"Billy, in a single motion, erupted from his chair, grabbed it, and hurled it right through the wall. When the chair hit the wall it didn't bang and clang, it exploded. Until they saw the hole Billy had made in it, the scouts had assumed that the wall was, like their futures, solid."image credit: Ken Arneson
August 27, 2007
Ken Arneson publishes a blog entry entitled "Of Holes." Commenter Mehmattski says, "Well, the Internet is over, this post won. Thanks for playing everybody."
"I despair: I don't want to be a robot, programmed to do what I do, oblivious to the world burning beneath my feet. I want to know what my feet are doing. I want to know where the holes in my life are, and why I keep trying to fill them, over and over. I want to accomplish great feats. I want to see and create beautiful things. I want to have amazing experiences."image credit: Ken Arneson
June 1, 2010
A giant sinkhole appears in Guatemala City.
Here is an event on a timeline.
We usually think of a timeline as a series of events. But look again. Is a timeline not also a series of holes between events?
Look at the holes. What is missing? What can't we see? What is being forgotten, being left unsaid?
We cannot assign significance to the memorable events in our lives without assigning insignificance to the events in between them.
May 2, 2011
US Special Forces shoot one hole in the chest and another in the head of Osama bin Laden, killing him.
Sometimes, it is necessary to fight holes with holes.
August 24, 2011
After 21 million years of travel, light from the Pinwheel Galaxy supernova reaches Earth.
The stars come up spinning every night, bewildered in love.
They'd grow tired with that revolving, if they weren't.
They'd say, "How long do we have to do this!"
God picks up the reed flute world and blows.
Each note is a need coming through one of us,
a passion, a longing-pain.
Remember the lips where the wind-breath originated,
and let your note be clear.
Don't try to end it.
Be your note.
I'll show you how it's enough.
Go up on the roof at night
in this city of the soul.
Let everyone climb on their roofs
and sing their notes!
September 10, 2011
Ken Arneson visits the Chabot Observatory on the roof of the Oakland Hills. He waits in line for over two hours to get a glance at the supernova in a large telescope.
Peering in the viewhole, Ken sees a single white dot. In this context, a galactic-scale catastrophe looks to be roughly the size of a pimple on a man's face.
Driving home in a somewhat disappointed mood, Ken hears a faint sound coming from somewhere in his car. "Flub flub flub," it whispers. "Flub flub flub."
September 11, 2011
Ten years to the day after Ken Arneson woke up to a hole in his wall, he wakes up to a hole in the left rear tire of his car.
Ken jacks up the car and removes the flat tire. Embedded into the tire, he finds an allen wrench.
"Hissssssssssssss," the tire boos, as Ken removes the allen wrench. "Hissssssssssssss."
Ken stops and ponders for a moment how an allen wrench, of all things, could maneuver itself into exactly the proper angle to puncture his tire. The odds against it seem desperately long.
Ken walks over to the garbage can, lifts the lid, and tosses the allen wrench into the hole.image credit: Ken Arneson
September 25, 2011
Ken Arneson goes to see the film version of Moneyball. While watching the film, his blackhead begins to swell up, painfully infected. Later that night, it bursts open, and the pus flushes the blackhead away.
"That's a metaphor."image credit: Ken Arneson
September 28, 2011
Billy Beane's team plays its final game in a forgettable season. Meanwhile, two teams that copied the philosophy he pioneered, battle each other for a playoff spot on one of the most unforgettable nights on the timeline of baseball history.
As Beane asks in the Moneyball movie, what does it matter?
It matters, because sometimes, a supernova explodes, and briefly shines 5,000,000,000 times brighter than the sun, giving off more light than every star in an entire galaxy combined.
And it matters, because sometimes, a single drop of water dislodges a single pebble from a riverbank.