Blog - The Witterings of Myles

Gravity no more

Published 2 November 2020

[ Originally posted on Facebook 17 December 2019 ]

Not sure how much longer they’re going to be able to keep the lid on all this.

Of course, a kind of pre-Disclosure softening-up process has been under way for some considerable time.

Blockbuster movies like 2001, Close Encounters, and the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises have long been getting us subconsciously primed to accept all sorts of unthinkable ideas.

But in recent years, things have moved more into the open.

In particular, since around 2000 all sorts of military, government and intelligence folks have (been authorized to?) come forward to testify.

You can find many of these and judge for yourself at https://siriusdisclosure.com/evidence/

Now however, things have become decidedly more concrete.

A recent U.S. Navy patent, under the rubric “Unconventional spacecraft propulsion systems,” is for a “Craft using an inertial mass reduction device.”

As you might imagine, it’s brimful with arcane techno-speak (example: “It is possible to reduce the inertial mass and hence the gravitational mass, of a system/object in motion, by an abrupt perturbation of the non-linear background of local spacetime . . . “), but behind it all the craft described is basically an anti-gravity ship that uses a “localized external vacuum” (!) to move “in a space, sea, air, or terrestrial environment” “at extreme speeds.”

Not a UFO then, more of an IFO . . .

Don’t believe me? Go see the thing itself at Google Patents, https://patents.google.com/patent/US10144532B2/en

This is likely a pre-emptive patent by the U.S., doubtless filed through gritted teeth, but deemed necessary in order to prevent others (China? Russia? India?) from getting there first.

If we’re real lucky it might spark a kind of patent war, as previously classified national programmes are forced into becoming more public.

Serious business yes, but not without humour: the listed inventor here is one Salvatore País, which loosely translates as ‘Saviour of the Country’ . . .

Anti-gravity is just one of the technologies involved in Disclosure.

I’ll be posting my own Disclosure predictions sometime around New Year (when I’ll also be retiring).

Meanwhile, keep an eye on the patents market . . .

P.S. This craft, or a close cousin, is already operational—”TR-3B” refers. If YouTube videos are to be believed (see e.g. https://bit.ly/2YY3mHY, https://bit.ly/2r24m1h, https://bit.ly/2S0wpJn), the U.S. military (inevitably, and alas) seem to have weaponised it . . .

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Gosh-golly-goddam

Gosh-golly-goddam

Published 1 November 2020

[ Originally posted on Facebook 1 January 2020 ]

Right then, here we are, some time after midnight on January 1st 2020, and as the anarchy that is Copenhagen’s annual New Year firework riot reaches its deafening climax, (it’ll go on for hours yet) I find myself . . . gosh-golly-goddam . . . retired.

Which means I can now say pretty much whatever I want, at the risk of embarrassing only myself (about which I give not a tinker’s cuss . . . )

So.

As I’ve written here before, many months (well, I guess it’s years now) of reading, research and study around all sorts of subjects have convinced me that humanity has been hoodwinked, cozened, lied to for centuries, about everything from who (and what) we really are, how (and when) we originated, how we got to where we are, where we might be headed, and who’s actually in charge.

I’m pretty certain that some of this is about to change, and I think it might be starting very, very soon.

DISCLOSURE in this context refers to the revealing of information that has previously been withheld or classified (i.e. hidden from We-The-People by shitheads, usually for military, pecuniary or control advantage, but sometimes because they think they know better and feel that we just couldn’t handle the truth).

Some of it involves technologies. But it goes so much further.

Here, then, are a few predictions, plus some other stuff to get you thinking:

If (when) it happens, initial Disclosure will be very limited, likely confined to existing near-Earth space operations (i.e. someone in high authority will announce that we are in fact already doing things in space that go beyond just rockets, satellites and the ISS. President Trump’s 21 December “Space Force” announcement isn’t quite it yet, but edging closer. Wouldn’t surprise me if the U.S. and Russia decided to come clean simultaneously).

Thereafter (depending on various things) Disclosure could quickly unravel, revealing hitherto-secret details about (in no particular order) some or all of:

Classified technologies, including but not limited to: anti-gravity (see ‘Gravity no more‘); zero-point (i.e. free, unlimited) energy; exotic propulsion systems; FTL (faster-than-light) travel; portals; advanced materials (try searching ‘Aluminium oxynitride’); weather- and seismic control; cloaking; medicine (cures concealed by Big Pharma); more . . .

Other things it’s time we were told the truth about:

Current and historical contacts with other civilisations, (on- and off-planet) (see ‘ETs among us‘ and ‘Unacknowledged‘);
Role of same in human origins and evolution;
Current and historical human interplanetary (and possibly interstellar) missions (see ‘Above Majestic‘);
Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBs, great acronym) around the planet, who (and what) is in them (see ‘Patches‘);
Existing human and other off-planet bases—Moon, Mars, beyond (again, see ‘Above Majestic‘);
Previous Earth civilisations;
Possibly (hope not), announced external threat to Earth—in which case, entities most likely in the frame: Draco and/or Orion-group (again, see ‘Patches‘);
Mind-control programming and high-level paedophile networks (U.S. sealed indictments refer) (see ‘Shame on us . . .‘);
Elite bloodlines, their histories and agenda(s) (see ‘The Georgia Guidestones‘ and ‘Death shot‘);
Well, everything really (see ‘The Law of One‘).

Potential issues arising include (in roughly short- to long-term order):

Controlling possible mass-panic (“world upside-down, sky falling . . . “; martial law?);
Controlling possible mass-fury (“you bastards, you mean you’ve been hiding this from us all along?”; ditto);
Coping with the realization that most of what we’ve been taught about science, history, well everything really, is, if not totally wrong, at the very least nowhere near the whole truth (the resulting cognitive conflict will prove too much for some, to the point of madness);
Crimes against humanity proceedings against perpetrators/concealers (mostly, but by no means exclusively, government, military and intelligence elites);
Amnesty (i.e. forgiveness) for (some of) same?;
Managing social effects (incl. collapse of banking system (hurrah!), worldwide ramifications of free energy, instant transport, disease reduction, eradication of poverty, eventual possibility of off-planet migration);
Geopolitical realignment (nations coming together in the face of a perceived common threat, real or otherwise);
Consciousness-shift (humanity to finally grow up, become a space-faring species, and take its place in the wider galactic fraternity).

If I’m right, some of the above coming to a lifetime near you, starting maybe real soon.

And if I’m wrong, well, hell . . .

There is, however, one further complicating factor:

There are reported to be many within U.S. military and intelligence circles who want some or all of this to come out.

However, there is also a large faction, in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world, who are doing very nicely indeed thank you from the present system.

For them, Disclosure would put a serious crimp in their wealth, power and influence.

These people are not going to give up without a fight. And they have all the latest toys.

So it’s not impossible that we’ll be assailed by some seriously sophisticated counter-tech, up to and including holographic overlays on (what we think of as) base reality.

If that does indeed happen, how then will we know what’s real and what’s not?

Beats me (although in the case of an announced external threat, it has been suggested that we watch world leaders—if they stick around and say they can fix things, then it’s a con; but if they disappear, we’ve definitely got issues . . . )

What can we do to prepare?

Keep our minds open, ready ourselves mentally for big change. [ November 2020 edit: “O my prophetic soul . . . ” ]

Stocking up on a few essentials in case of early-days confusion and chaos is no bad idea (light, heat, food, water etc., for a comprehensive checklist and more information see the US government’s emergency preparedness site at www.ready.gov/kit).

Try to escape the herd-mind—think for ourselves.

Above all, have no fear: for these are times of growth and liberation.

And even if (what seems to be) worst comes to worst, Earthly death, even mass Earthly death, painful though it be to those who witness it and remain behind, is no death at all.

For we are all—all of us—eternal.

Oh, and if by some miracle you’re still with me, Bonne Année à tous!

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Things we forget . . .

Things we forget . . .

Published 31 October 2020

[ Originally posted on Facebook 18 November 2015 in the wake of a series of terror attacks in Paris on 13 November that left over 120 dead ]

I have [now ‘had’] the honour to work for an organisation (UNHCR, the UN refugee agency), many of whose staff are on the front lines in some of the world’s most difficult places—places where conflict, terrorism, atrocity and personal trauma on a scale almost inconceivable are daily occurrence.

So to a conversation in the office today about how what’s happening in Europe will change things.

One of our number—who has extensive experience at the shitty sharp end—said, “Oh, it’ll be just like when we were in xxxx—there’s an explosion, a shooting, a bombing or some other terrible thing, everyone pauses for a moment, and then life goes on.”

“xxxx” might be Afghanistan, it might be Colombia, Central African Republic, Lebanon, Kenya, or Myanmar; it might be Mali, Pakistan, Nigeria, Syria, Ukraine, Somalia, Iraq, South Sudan, or Yemen; it might be Turkey. It might be so many other places.

What we in Europe (and USA, Australia, Canada, Japan etc.) see as the unimaginable is often no more than daily reality for so many others around the world.

The developed world’s myth since WWII is that the authorities can and will keep us all safe.

Never has this been more untrue.

So welcome, we lucky denizens of the “developed” world, to our new reality—a reality that so many of our brothers and sisters elsewhere know only too well and live with daily . . .

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Of their hands: cowboy cuisine

Of their hands: cowboy cuisine

Published 30 October 2020

[ Originally published on Facebook 2 April 2020 ]

So ‘from the sublime to’ . . . no I can’t say ‘the ridiculous,’ because the next channel is far from that; let’s say rather ‘from the sublime to the rambunctious’ . . .

One of the many it-doesn’t-quite-add-up things about our current predicament [this was written during the early days of the first full-court-press UK Covid lockdown] is that all the utilities—electricity, gas, water, sewage, garbage, post, you name it—seem to be almost unaffected.

But let’s say the power was off—we’d have to find other ways of lighting, heating, cooking.

For ‘Cowboy’ Kent Rollins that’d be no kinda big deal, ‘cos’n’ that’s what he does—he cooks up a storm over an open fire.

Back in them frontier days, folks didn’t have none o’ them fancy ‘lectric stoves—all their cooking was done wood-fired, using cast-iron skillets, Dutch ovens and sich . . .

And this is what Rollins shows us, whether it’s good campfire coffee, mama’s cornbread dressing, fried rattlesnake (no, really), Philly cheesesteak, or jalapeño cheese sourdough bread, Kent’s got y’all covered.

It’s all presented in his inimitable style—good-ole-boy Oklahoma corny. So yes, maybe you wouldn’t want to listen to him all day, but in small doses his deep knowledge, his fluent patter, and his sheer down-home good-heartedness warm and convince.

A recent one of his titled ‘Cowboy Cures’ is testament to just how much he really knows his stuff. And if’n’ you let him folks, he can pass on a whole passel o’ knowin’ about outdoor cooking and life, power off or not . . .

::: VEGETARIANS AVOID :::

Here’s Kent’s intro video for his YouTube channel, which should give you some flavour . . .

Up for some more? (It’s worth it . . .) Kent’s YouTube channel here

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Of their hands: social virtuosity

Of their hands: social virtuosity

Published 30 October 2020

[Originally posted on Facebook 30 March 2020 ]

Let’s stay with the arts.

Tiffany Poon was born in Hong Kong in December 1996. Which makes her 23 [at the time of writing] and—if you buy into such categories—a Millennial. She started piano lessons at age four, made her concert debut at 10.

Her website (tiffanypoon.com) lists a solo repertoire of 150+, from Bach through Liszt to Stravinsky, plus another 40+ concerto and chamber works.

So far so orthodox—there are any number of young and gifted musicians out there, all vying for competition recognition and scarce recital slots.

What sets Tiffany apart is her incorporation of social media into every aspect of her art.

As she puts it herself: “my mission is to inspire all generations, the old and the new, to appreciate classical music using social media. . . . With YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc, I can bridge that mysterious gap between classical music and the modern audience.”

This is most evident on her YouTube channel, where you’re as likely to see her choosing among Steinways for her New York apartment, or chatting to camera about her life and work, as to watch her preparations for performance and the performances themselves.

But oddly, it’s the videos of her practising that I enjoy most. Here you get to see the sheer hard graft and stamina that go into the maintenance of concert-levels of excellence.

Tiffany meticulously annotates it all in edit, overlaying her text comments onto the video, charting the practice process (“finding the right attack for the accent,” “too much rubato,” “needs more E♭”), where things are going wrong (“stop going to C♯” “bad landings,” “why, pinky, why?”) and when she makes them right (“solid now,” “so close, keep going,” “finally!”).

Quite apart from her almost impossibly stunning virtuosity, all this makes you feel you’re getting insights into the music itself.

And boy, do you get to hear some fabulous piano-playing along the way . . .

Tiffany’s YouTube channel here

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Voice of a woman

Voice of a woman

Published 28 October 2020

[ First published on Facebook 3 October 2015 ]

For my generation, Pink Floyd’s 1973 breakthrough album ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ was a seminal moment, for all sorts of reasons I won’t even try to go into here.

More than 40 years on, some of its music still stands comparison with the finest, not least in the plangent piano-and-improvised-female-vocal section of ‘The Great Gig in the Sky.’

There’s something about a female voice singing without words that—for me at any rate—goes straight for the emotional jugular.

This is ‘Eternal’ by southern-Spanish artist Nacho Sotomayor (you’ll note the Moorish influence in the vocal phrasing). Listened to it several times, assailed each time by feelings of immense, unutterable longing—although again, maybe that’s just me . . .

Came across it via Spotify, using their radio-station option with Buddha Bar as the base. How lucky we are these days to be able to get genre music app-chosen, internet-streamed, and through the witchcraft of wireless piped to the hi-fi, tv, soundbar, wherever . . .

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HDR

HDR

Published 26 October 2020

[ Originally posted on Facebook 18 August 2015 ]

So I’ve started dabbling a bit in High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.

You’ve probably already seen plenty of HDR photos without realising it—they’re the ones that seem super-realistic or even outright surreal. For instance, any water photo where the water looks airbrushed is almost certainly an HDR shot, for reasons that we’ll come to presently. The human eye, it seems, views the world in HDR, so the technique can produce shots that resemble more closely what we actually see.

It’s not a particularly new thing, but I only just came across it (via John Dvorak of ‘PC Magazine,’ to whom undying thanks).

Now I’m no photographer, but long ago did on an impulse buy an entry-level Canon DSLR. And have underused it consistently ever since, eschewing the arcana of ISO, shutter speed, f-stops, white balance etc. in favour of the camera’s (admittedly very good) point-and-shoot automatics.

Which till now has worked fine. But having discovered HDR, I find myself eager to learn all about these many variables, mostly because now I have to.

See, HDR uses multiple images which are then merged to create the final photo. I’m sure that good photographers have been doing this for decades, but now digital has made it much, much easier.

What you do is take several shots of the same scene in quick succession with different exposures. This is known as exposure bracketing, and bless ’em, most DSLRs have a feature that will do it for you automatically—called (natch) Automatic Exposure Bracketing, or AEB. (And just in case it sounds like I know what I’m talking about, I’m still very much learning about all this myself. But, aside: it is interesting how quickly you can learn even abstruse technical stuff when there’s a reason to—I remember way back giving my sister Caro a quick intro to processor speeds, RAM size, hard-disk capacity/spin-speeds, other like stuff when she was looking to buy her first computer, and before I knew it she was in the shop authoritatively talking price/performance with the salesman like a seasoned pro . . . )

Anyway, in the simplest HDR you take three exposures—one normal, one under-exposed and one over-exposed. These you then put through software (I’m using Photomatix) that merges the three shots and offers you various preset/manual options of what bits to take from which. If you want to get fancier you can merge five, seven or even nine different exposures (if your camera can take ’em), giving you more options and more potential richness—as well as exponentially greater complexity and more opportunity to screw up the end result.

The attentive will already have spotted one limitation: because the different exposures are taken SEQUENTIALLY, HDR works better with subjects that aren’t moving too much (time-difference between frames = moving stuff moves). Also, unless you’re rock solid you’ll screw up the merge doing it handheld. Which tends to mean using a tripod for stability, at the risk of losing spontaneity.

So for all you inventors out there, first one to figure out how to take multiple exposures CONCURRENTLY wins the big prize . . .

And going back to airbrushed water, any technique that involves taking multiple, sequential shots of fast-moving water will produce a composite that doesn’t freeze the water’s motion at one particular time (I’d always wondered . . . ), although this issue (called ‘ghosting’) is already in part being addressed, and I’m betting will eventually be resolved as computers get quicker and the software cleverer.

The photo above shows what HDR can do, in this case using a 7-frame composite (not mine, I hasten to add): the one on the left is the original shot (it’s also the middle one in the frameset underneath). Not bad in itself, but see how merging in elements from the 6 other frames creates the stunningly detailed image on the right. (Bit garish for my own taste, but you get the, er, picture . . . )

The HDR photos below were all taken from the balcony of my Copenhagen apartment. They are a little crude I admit, but do give an idea of how HDR can add depth, and enhance the display of extremes of darkness and light.

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Master of cards

Master of cards

Published 25 October 2020

[ Originally posted on Facebook 14 August 2015 ]

I’ve always had immense admiration for those who, while pushing forwards in their own skill-sphere, respect the greatness of those who preceded them. I also find myself increasingly moved to tears by the witness of excellence.

So finding a profile of magician Ricky Jay (‘Deceptive Practice’) on Netflix just now was doubly impressive (and yes, I do seem to be watching a tad too much TV these days, but in amongst all the shoot-’em-up dross there are plenty of genuine gems).

Here is someone who has spent a lifetime perfecting the art of legerdemain, but who shares also a Ray Mears-like (I don’t have many heroes, he’s one) reverence for the knowledge of those who went before.

In this stage-show clip, Jay typically pays homage to one of his own mentors and heroes, Max Malini, but watch this mostly for his breathtaking mastery of the cards . . .

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God’s plenty

God’s plenty

Published 27 March 2020

[ Originally posted on Facebook 27 March 2020 ]

The city of Toulouse in the south of France is certifiably rugby-mad. And while the French national rugby side exasperates by blowing hot and cold, the Stade Toulousain (ST) rugby club is consistently one of the most successful in Europe.

I’d got to talking rugby pretty often with the Toulousain husband of a work colleague in Geneva, and one day he astonished me by inviting me to fly down to his city and watch his revered team play (ST match tickets basically unobtainable seasons in advance).

It was during this visit that I discovered another of Toulouse’s glories—its huge covered market, a magnificent, proper French one, with running the entire length of the floor above a warren of equally magnificent Occitanian restaurants.

So there we were at the table of one such, chatting away with the chef-owner, also (natch) a rugby-fanatic. And when he found out I was a ‘rosbif’ (English), he started waxing lyrical about a compatriot of mine, a youngster he’d recently discovered who’d completely changed his attitude to food and its preparation.

And the name of this English wunderkind? (this an experienced French chef, mind)—Jamie Oliver.

I tell the story because one of the contributors to my next ‘Riches of YouTube’ channel does for his specialist area what Jamie Oliver does for cooking.

Talking about art on screen is no easy task. You need simultaneously to master a bewildering variety of genres and techniques, breathe the sometimes rarefied air of the artistic imagination, yet be able to put it all across in terms we ordinary mortals can understand.

Well, Andrew Graham-Dixon does just that—like our Jamie he really knows his stuff, but he wears his learning lightly and communicates his vast knowledge enthusiastically and without pretension.

All of which is by way of introduction to #2 in my ‘Riches of YouTube’ series, a channel entitled simply Art Documentaries, in which Graham-Dixon is just one among a myriad presenters.

It’s all here, from bamboo to bauhaus, carpentry to ceramics, dada to dance. A ‘Mastercrafts’ series covers thatching, blacksmithing, stained glass, weaving, stonemasonry; there’s profiles of noted artists, explorations of the art of countries around the world, tours of the world’s great museums.

And so on. And on . . .

And because these are all programmes made for TV, the production is uniformly top-class.

Here, as John Dryden wrote of Geoffrey Chaucer, “here is God’s plenty” . . .

https://www.youtube.com/user/taran333tula/videos

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Of their hands: mechanical perfection

Of their hands: mechanical perfection

Published 25 March 2020

[ Originally posted on Facebook 25 March 2020 ]

Right then, ‘Riches of YouTube.’ Where to begin?

Let’s assume no prior knowledge about how YouTube works.

Most of the places we’ll be visiting are what YouTube calls ‘channels.’ These usually (but not always) have a home page with some sort of introduction on who the contributor(s) are and what they do.

Then there are tabbed links to the list of videos on the site, and sometimes also a ‘playlists’ option, where videos are grouped by theme or project.

Most of the links I give will be to the home page. If you then click on the ‘videos’ tab, the easiest way to start viewing is just to choose ‘play all’ below the tabs. This will start you off with the oldest video on the site and work steadily forwards to the most recent.

This is a good idea where the contributor is working on a multi-video project, as later videos will continue the story from previous ones.

Bear in mind that for many channels, the earliest videos are often not quite as polished as later ones. It’s fairly common for contributors to adjust how they film, whether and what commentary and/or music they use, that sort of thing, as they become more confident with the medium.

So even if the first few videos on a site aren’t particularly professional, do persevere, they’ll get better as you go along.

Of course you can always pick ‘à la carte’ from the video list if you see one that particularly takes your fancy . . .

Ok, that’s about it for the introduction.

So, what’s first?

Well, there are quite a number of channels that illustrate the process of restoration, of everything from micrometers to tractors.

But there’s one that far outdoes all the rest. It’s called my mechanics.

The chap is (I think) Swiss, and is (I think) a watchmaker. He certainly has the full range of tools and equipment.

But that’s just the start. A leitmotif throughout much of this series will be ‘attention to detail,’ and you won’t find any more of that than here.

Basically, he starts with some rusted old piece of apparent junk, and turns it into . . . well, you’ll see.

And if this channel speaks to you, you’ll quickly come to cherish the phrase “I make a new one.”

So here it is: the first in my ‘Riches of YouTube’ series is the ‘my mechanics’ channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMrMVIBtqFW6O0-MWq26gqw/videos (link straight to video listing).

I tend to watch these with the sound down, as the joy is in what he does and the videos are all subtitled where needed.

You lucky people . . .

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