here is that as a consequence of motion, time would be equally relevant to the non-extremal curves, as it is to the extremal curves. It would simply be relative to the system being described. The point of Barbour's essay is self contradictory. It starts as a denunciation of absolute time, then sets about determining it through the principle of least action. I couldn't help but concur with the dx4/ct = ic comment Aguirre made. All this tells us is that everthing is moving at the speed of light! Even while sitting down we are all moving along the 4th coordinate direction at the speed of light, times i = sqrt{-1}. Something I remember from undergraduate study. The judging decision is what it is. I did not win. I wrote my essay up in three days, after realizing the deadline was Dec 1 and not Jan 1 --- oops. I also intiuited some of the conclusions prematurely. Well, such are the way of contests. Various people and parties are requesting my deleted posts and attachments. Might there be some way to leave them up so as to save me the trouble of resending/distributing? After all, my posts all contain a novel postulate and equation brought forth by an independent Ph.D. researcher reflecting a hitherto unsung universal invariant: dx4/dt=ic, which is what FQXI is supposed to support, theoretically. I also include a plethora of edifying quotes from the Founding Fathers of physics, so as to demonstrate that my philosophy is more in