Hello All, Being a landlocked person my whole life, I knew nothing of tides. So I was rather surprised when I read in a book that high tides happen at opposite sides of the earth at the same time. I didn't know this. Well, it immediately didn't make sense that the moon would be the sole cause of this. How could it pull water on one side and not the ground, while on the other side of the earth it was pulling ground but not water? Anyway, that led me to a simple speculation. I throw it out to the wood chipper of your opinions now. What if the actual effect of high tides is caused by a rotating gravitational force from the firmament, which is on opposite sides of the firmament all the time. Its rotation with the firmament would cause the high tides on both sides of the globe simultaneously. Its rotation with the firmament would also cause the tides to come and go. All in a 24 hour period just as we see it. What do you think? In geostasis Gary Shelton GaryLShelton@xxxxxxxxxxx