Hello both. IG please excuse me if I reply to Geomartian first.
There is so much there to try to retain. It will be interesting to see if we pick the same or different points, and how we deal with them. I have not read your reply yet.
Now, Mr Geomartian, Sir.
"leads to a universe where the speed of light per second is constant." A speed is not a speed per second. It is (for us) measured in metres per second. SCI.
Anyway, that is an aside. My question is: Are you still talking in vacuo?
(Our vacuum) Or have you got different vacua in mind?
"But the length of that second (rate of time) can change by orders of magnitude for small diffuse masses."
Come on! A second is based on Earth and you can't change it in any way. You cannot start having Jupiter seconds and Alpha Centauri seconds. You can say that time is varied relative to some constant like the time light travels
in vacuo to cover a certain distance - if we have agreed measuring rods - if you have to, you can define a second (not
our second) as a gobbletron or whatever. But leave our second alone
"Entropy is a statistical expression that loses meaning the farther you get from very simple models". You cannot shove entropy under the carpet like that. It is
fundamental. It dictates (or is dictated by) the arrow of time. Your denigration of it, Sir )

) is like saying that space is just a Cartesian jungle.
(Perhaps you already said that, and I missed it?)
Without increasing degree of disorder, where are we?
"Quasars (as a white hole) suggest that (ruptured?) black holes return matter back to the universe"
Here we might be getting close to agreeing. It is not my idea, though I thought of it before I read it elsewhere, that we have an eggtimer. A Universe where there is a junction between big bang and big crunch(or rip, or whatever). Yes. I think BHs are just part of a cycle and not some sort of eternal damnation for scientists.
"The universe seems to have mechanisms for resetting entropy."
NO WAY. You can't start ziggling around with degrees of disorder. Suddenly all those molecules of NaCl in the ocean jump backwards and lounge on the beach. No Way!
"If time and energy are linked it would create a paradox without the arrow of time. The universe exists so there is no paradox."
What language are we talking here? Sorry. To me, that is worse than goggledegook.
Anyway, best wishes. We can differ without animosity
