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Michael Burns-Kaurin wrote:
Once again, an event occurs at a particular place and time. In your final
paragraph, both observers are right relative to their own reference frames.
The fact that I am in San Diego at a later time does not mean my breakfast
occurred in San Diego. It occurred at me. In my frame, San Diego happens
to be where I am at a later time. An observer who lives in San Diego,
however, would place my breakfast in Los Angeles. I put the distance
between breakfast and lunch as being zero, the California-bound observers
say the distance is some other number. I would agree with the California
observers that, at the time of my breakfast, Los Angeles coincided with my
location. The California observers would agree that, at a later time, my
location coincides with San Diego. That does not put my breakfast as
coinciding with San Diego--my location did not coincide with San Diego at
the time of the breakfast event.
The problem is that each frame must claim that the location of breakfast
is fixed, in their frame. Otherwise they would not be able to determine
the distance between breakfast and lunch, in their frame, at the time of
lunch, which is when they determine that distance. That means that each
frame considers itself to be a preferred frame, in which the "absolute"
location of breakfast is fixed for all time. Unfortunately, those
"absolute" locations don't coincide at times later than the occurrence
of breakfast.