09/25/2011 update, reflecting news from CERN:

   The absolute interpretation of relativity, as presented in
   Relativity Trail, is unaffected, and in fact would be elevated, 
   by the recent results from the OPERA detector in Gran Sasso, Italy, 
   which detected neutrinos generated at CERN arriving sooner than 
   expected, indicating they were moving faster than light.

   First note that Relativity Trail is completely consistent 
   with Einstein's relativity, with its effectively equivalent inertial 
   frames, including the consistent measured speed of light in all 
   inertial frames.

   In Relativity Trail, the effects of relativity are deduced
   by considering that clock functioning, as well as the speed of 
   our perceptions, are dictated by the finite speed of light.  
   The only relevant issue is that all phenomena is constrained by 
   some finite speed, which is what light speed is regarded as, 
   whether it is the maximum speed or not.

   In Einstein's relativity, it is deduced that the speed of light 
   is the maximum speed, based on assumptions about time.  With that 
   arbritrary starting point, he made relativity more sacred than 
   it should have been, with the subsequent shrieking we now hear.

   Well, perhaps it has now been experimentally confirmed that the
   effects of relativity are, as claimed in Relativity Trail, 
   a very close approximation of reality.  It is plausible, as 
   mentioned on page 20 of Relativity Trail, that a photon
   may have nil, rather than zero mass.  If a neutrino's speed is 
   greater than that of a photon, a precise enough measure would 
   reveal that, leaving us to conclude that a photon actually has 
   a very tiny mass, as does a neutrino.  In fact, it's well known
   that unless we consider photons as having some rest mass, certain 
   definitions and equations of physics break down.  The development
   and understanding of relativity in Relativity Trail are
   unnaffected by such considerations.

   As explained in Relativity Trail, the effects of relativity are, 
   in either case, actually an approximate effect, dependent on 
   the complexity of the universe, since the sum total of the universe
   itself serves as the ultimate and true frame of reference for motion 
   and acceleration.  That frame of reference changes some tiny amount 
   with every action of any particle in the universe.  It's really
   not fundamentally different from the Uncertainty Principle.

   An object's inertial properties (e.g. mass) are integral to its 
   relationship with totality.  Because the effects of relativity 
   are ever more precise with an increasingly complex universe, 
   relativity is virtually true in our very complex universe.




   -----------------------------------------------------------------

   From page 35:   

   "This has everything to do with the notion of complexity giving 
   rise to the meaningfulness of physical properties, which is implicit 
   in all our arguments pertaining to an object's relationship to 
   totality. A very simple universe would impart inertial properties 
   in a much rougher manner than does the universe in which we live, 
   and those properties would mean much less."

   From page 121 (3rd edition, c 2010):

   "Now from the God's eye view we can assess the dynamics of a, say, 
   three component universe.  As noted on pages 35 and 140-141, such 
   a simple universe will produce cruder results: There will be 
   substantial time contraction for all three components, assuming 
   their "masses" are comparable to one another.  But there really 
   isn't much to talk about here. It's irrelevant to the extent that 
   it is not nearly complex enough to produce the virtual absolute 
   effects as we know them."

   From page 141 (different page number for 1st and 2nd edition)
   regarding the effect on the rest of the universe when an object
   moves:  

   "Technically, this is true even for the universe as it actually is. 
   It's just that it is far too small an effect to be detected or to 
   be of any practical consequence."
   

See these online documents which expand on this topic:


Twins Paradox Theory discusses the basics of motion
in absolute terms.


Twinparadox.pdf includes a table of an analysis of the
incrementally building time differential of the Twins Paradox.


Relativitytrail_abstract.pdf discusses the absolute
version of Einstein's postulates.


A Twin Paradox animation.  Light beams and traveling 
twins are diagrammed in absolute terms against the 
(experimentally undetectable) rest state of the universe.


Twins Paradox Explained  A lively discussion about the 
misperceptions common among leading physicists.  


Relativity Trail, with 210 pages, 65 diagrams and 75 illustrations,
will provide you with complete detailed arithmetical derivations of all the 
kinematical effects of special relativity.  Everything is charted out in
absolute terms against the rest state of the universe for perfect clarity
as well as soundness of theoretical basis.  It is the totality of the 
universe that imparts the inertial properties of clock rates and lengths
which generate the effects of relativity.  This is explained in detail in
Relativity Trail.



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