Well, I figure you just need a little education. The fact is that nothing changes in any of the scenarios you suggest, except your perception. Your demonstrations assumes that you are working in space. But in spacetime you have to include the time dimension. When you do that you are actually viewing the projection of the object which is moving partly in the time dimension. This means it is tilted with respect to your view and is thus shortened, as you view it. Just as something that you view at a sharp angle to its length is shortened in your view. Think of an arrow which you look at from almost in front. The view you have makes it look very short. The difference in relativity is that the apparent shortening due to the timelike part of its travels is retained when it returns to a more spacelike frame of reference. And if I really understood what relativity means I would write it up and get me a Nobel Prize. Our minds just aren't really built to correctly visualize the effects of relativity.

And of course there are those who will jump on the "it's your fault for not agreeing with me" bandwagon.

Bill Gill

C is not the speed of light in a vacuum.
C is the universal speed limit.