News Briefs 26-05-2020

• Scratching the surface : drones cast new light on mystery of Nazca Lines .
• Official footage shows US Navy ship use a ( frikkin ) laser weapon to destroy a flying drone .
• The bold plan to use the Sun as a giant telescope in order to see continents and oceans on another Earth .
• Brazil ’ s indigenous people are dying at an alarming rate from Covid-19 .
• Can ancient temples unearthed in Ayodhya put religious dispute to bed ?
• The building blocks of life are left-handed , and the reason could come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history of the supernova at the bottom of the sea .
• Why New Age yogis have swallowed the QAnon conspiracy .
• North Korea rules out time/space travel as reason for disappearance of Kim Jong-un .
Thus disappointingly losing the chance to refer to the time-traveled version of him as Kim Old-un .
• Meanwhile , in India officials claim they have captured a Pakistan spy pigeon .
• Image of the Day : A quick reminder that you are riding on an organic spaceship that offers first-class views of an entire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Day : Hate , in the long run , is about as nourishing as cyanide .


News Briefs 27-05-2020

• Many astronomers now think Planet Nine might not exist after all .
• SpaceX is teasing mysterious ‘ private @ @ @ @ @ All part of the Plutocratic Exit Strategy no doubt… • Elon Musk says one thing @ @ @ @ @ Mars city happen .
Atmospheric oxygen levels ?
• Mining blast destroys one of Australia @ @ @ @ @ heritage sites .
• US authorities say Hobby Lobby ’ s Gilgamesh tablet is ’ @ @ @ @ @ back to Iraq .
• New study categorizes all the unexplainable experiences produced by psychedelic @ @ @ @ @ has very deep evolutionary roots , and is present in some animals .
• Are @ @ @ @ @ ?
• Novel insight reveals topological tangle in unexpected corner of the universe .
• @ @ @ @ @ the Day : Jupiter and its Galilean moons .
Quote of the Day : It @ @ @ @ @ people be What society wants them to be , but not me .

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.


dailygrail--2020-05-27--Civil War Psy-Op: An Alternative Narrative of the QAnon Conspiracy Theory

Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory have been long-suffering in waiting for some ( actual ) evidence to confirm the existence of the elusive ‘ Q ’ , or some confirmation or proof from official ( ie .
Trump-connected ) sources .
So , many were excited in October last year when a rather senior retired military man , General Paul E. Vallely ( Major General , USA , Ret . )
, was quoted on a radio show as saying that the ‘ Q drops ’ ( the sporadic , cryptic internet posts by QAnon ) were based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligence specialists : Paul Vallely was no mere grunt : he retired in 1993 as deputy commanding general , Pacific Command , so he ’ s definitely no random internet dude with an opinion .
In the decades since he retired though , he has gone on to work in far-right think tanks and appear as a pundit on right-wing chat shows – and , not surprisingly , is a fan and defender of Donald Trump ( and a promoter of some related conspiracy theories like Birtherism ) .
So for many QAnoners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a guy who is likely plugged into senior military circles , and also the orbit of the Trump administration , saying Q ’ s information was not only legit , but from intelligence sources connected to the president himself .
There is just one – rather synchronistically hilarious – problem for QAnoners , which I ’ ll have to give a little background on first .
Last month here on the Grail I wrote about a new YouTube documentary that had gone viral ( now over 13 million views ) , exploring many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and QAnon , Out of Shadows .
The documentary spent substantial time discussing both government mind control operations , as well as Satanism , and tied the two together through Michael Aquino – an occultist , political scientist , and U.S. military intelligence officer who , after leaving Anton LaVey ’ s Church of Satan , formed his own order , The Temple of Set .
Out of Shadows points out that Aquino “ wrote a paper called ‘ Mind War ’ , and ‘ Mind War ’ was about psychological operations against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , using Satanist techniques and tools.
” Michael Aquino did in fact write the paper mentioned .
The mind-blowing part , in the context of this post , is that he was asked to write it by the commander of his unit ( and who thus has a co-writing credit on the paper ) …Paul Vallely ( his name is misspelled in the cover credit ) .
Furthermore , it ’ s worth noting – especially in light of my previous warnings here on the Grail that the QAnon conspiracy theory could conceivably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ takeover of the U.S. government – that in December 2013 , Vallely told a Tea Party group that he would be willing to lead a military coup against the Obama administration : Speaking to a Tea Party group late last year , retired Army general and Fox News pundit Paul Vallely insisted that he doesn ’ t want to see a revolution take place…but if a revolution does happen then he will be happy to lead it .
Vallely reminisced about how he once discussed plans to “ surround the White House and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marines , adding that “ it ’ s going to take physical presence ” to make elected officials heed their demands .
“ I ’ m not inciting a revolution but we ’ ve got to get more physical and stand up and protest , ” Vallely insisted .
“ I don ’ t want to be criticized for starting a revolution , but I ’ d certainly head it if we had to .
We all love a good fight if it ’ s worth it , right ?
” All these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the dominant QAnon narrative – that Q drops are a secret way of informing the public that Trump is the literal saviour of the world , taking down the evil cabal of Satanist paedophiles that currently run the show – is based on only tidbits of suggestive evidence and links , I thought I ’ d put forward a counter-narrative – similarly backed by just suggestive evidence and links , because hey if that ’ s the standard of proof needed… What if there is a secret , far-right group consisting of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , mobbed up millionaires , and generally fascist-leaning RWNJs – and QAnon is a psy-op they created to build an army of useful idiots , who would help spread their message so that eventually a large portion of the population would be compliant when the American putsch goes down ?
If it is a psy-op designed by the Order of Trump , it explains the president ’ s regular retweets of QAnon-aligned Twitter accounts , and his sometimes curious use of the number 17 ( Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mentioning it as a ‘ code ) .
It would explain why the senior presidential advisor has a life-long association with white nationalism .
Why the president talks about there being “ very fine people on both sides ” when talking about the violent protests against a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville , Va .
The reason for the constant dog whistling and other odd moments over the past four years ( Hail Hydra ! )
… It explains the rise of huge number of Facebook groups pushing for a second civil war in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political violence and civil war if something happened to the president , Michael Cohen ’ s suggestion that “ there will never be a peaceful transition of power ” if Trump loses the upcoming election , and Trump ’ s tweets urging people in Minnesota , Michigan , and Virginia to ‘ liberate ’ themselves ( “ Trump ’ s tweets pushed many online extremist communities to speculate whether the president was advocating for armed conflict , an event they ’ ve termed “ the boogaloo , ” for which many far-right activists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last year.
” ) It provides a possible reason Trump is courting the worst of the American military , and QAnon is inspiring gung-ho mercenaries ( though it ’ s worth remembering Trump also has Blackwater founder Erik Prince in his corner as well ) .
Why militias now turn up in support of local sheriffs , and armed protestors are now intimidating lawmakers .
And why the Republican party is continuing to select QAnon supporters as political nominees .
Okay , I ’ m going a bit over the top .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m free associating between a lot of crazy ideas .
I ’ m just saying though , if QAnoners want to believe in a narrative based on fairly flimsy evidence and a network of random connections , mine is probably more likely than a lying narcissistic man-baby being selected to save the world from an evil cabal of Satanic paedophiles – who since being arrested have been let out on day release with ankle monitors .
( Not to mention that the good guys decided to release hints about what was happening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in cryptic clues so that they didn ’ t give the game away , but also hoped people would solve the clues anyhow…wut ? )
The problem is , it now doesn ’ t need to be true for the consequences to arise .
The likes of Trump , Roger Stone , Alex Jones , Paul Vallely and QAnon are at least peddling and promoting aspects of these scenarios , so that we do now have the ‘ boogaloo ’ movement primed for armed action , and millions of QAnoners who are absolutely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pay-per-view .
The tinder is dry , and the fuel load is high .
So what happens when someone lights a match ?

Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory have been long-suffering in waiting for some (actual) evidence to confirm the existence of the elusive ‘Q’, or some confirmation or proof from official (ie. Trump-connected) sources. So, many were excited in October last year when a rather senior retired military man, General Paul E. Vallely (Major General, USA, Ret.), was quoted on a radio show as saying that the ‘Q drops’ (the sporadic, cryptic internet posts by QAnon) were based on information gained from a group of military intelligence specialists:
QAnon [uses] information that comes out of a group called ‘The Army of Northern Virginia.’ This is a group of military intelligence specialists, of over 800 people that advise the president. The president doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the CIA or even the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) as much anymore. So he relies on these real operators – most of them are Special Operations type of people. This is where ‘Q’ picks up and gets some of their information, as I understand it.
Paul Vallely was no mere grunt: he retired in 1993 as deputy commanding general, Pacific Command, so he’s definitely no random internet dude with an opinion. In the decades since he retired though, he has gone on to work in far-right think tanks and appear as a pundit on right-wing chat shows – and, not surprisingly, is a fan and defender of Donald Trump (and a promoter of some related conspiracy theories like Birtherism).
So for many QAnoners, this was a big deal – a guy who is likely plugged into senior military circles, and also the orbit of the Trump administration, saying Q’s information was not only legit, but from intelligence sources connected to the president himself. There is just one – rather synchronistically hilarious – problem for QAnoners, which I’ll have to give a little background on first.
Last month here on the Grail I wrote about a new YouTube documentary that had gone viral (now over 13 million views), exploring many of the conspiracy themes covered by Pizzagate and QAnon, Out of Shadows. The documentary spent substantial time discussing both government mind control operations, as well as Satanism, and tied the two together through Michael Aquino – an occultist, political scientist, and U.S. military intelligence officer who, after leaving Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, formed his own order, The Temple of Set.
Out of Shadows points out that Aquino “wrote a paper called ‘Mind War’, and ‘Mind War’ was about psychological operations against populations, including the American domestic population, using Satanist techniques and tools.”
Michael Aquino did in fact write the paper mentioned. The mind-blowing part, in the context of this post, is that he was asked to write it by the commander of his unit (and who thus has a co-writing credit on the paper)…Paul Vallely (his name is misspelled in the cover credit).
Furthermore, it’s worth noting – especially in light of my previous warnings here on the Grail that the QAnon conspiracy theory could conceivably help smooth the way for an armed takeover of the U.S. government – that in December 2013, Vallely told a Tea Party group that he would be willing to lead a military coup against the Obama administration:
Speaking to a Tea Party group late last year, retired Army general and Fox News pundit Paul Vallely insisted that he doesn’t want to see a revolution take place…but if a revolution does happen then he will be happy to lead it. Vallely reminisced about how he once discussed plans to “surround the White House and surround the Capitol building” with 250,000 marines, adding that “it’s going to take physical presence” to make elected officials heed their demands. “I’m not inciting a revolution but we’ve got to get more physical and stand up and protest,” Vallely insisted. “I don’t want to be criticized for starting a revolution, but I’d certainly head it if we had to. We all love a good fight if it’s worth it, right?”
All these strange links got me thinking. Seeing as the dominant QAnon narrative – that Q drops are a secret way of informing the public that Trump is the literal saviour of the world, taking down the evil cabal of Satanist paedophiles that currently run the show – is based on only tidbits of suggestive evidence and links, I thought I’d put forward a counter-narrative – similarly backed by just suggestive evidence and links, because hey if that’s the standard of proof needed…
What if there is a secret, far-right group consisting of an association of white supremacists, Nazis, mobbed up millionaires, and generally fascist-leaning RWNJs – and QAnon is a psy-op they created to build an army of useful idiots, who would help spread their message so that eventually a large portion of the population would be compliant when the American putsch goes down?
If it is a psy-op designed by the Order of Trump, it explains the president’s regular retweets of QAnon-aligned Twitter accounts, and his sometimes curious use of the number 17 (Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet, so QAnoners get excited about anybody mentioning it as a ‘code).
It would explain why the senior presidential advisor has a life-long association with white nationalism. Why the president talks about there being “very fine people on both sides” when talking about the violent protests against a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Va. The reason for the constant dog whistling and other odd moments over the past four years (Hail Hydra!)…
It explains the rise of huge number of Facebook groups pushing for a second civil war in America, Trump ally Roger Stone threatening political violence and civil war if something happened to the president, Michael Cohen’s suggestion that “there will never be a peaceful transition of power” if Trump loses the upcoming election, Alex Jones and his Infowars crew constantly jonesing for a civil war, and Trump’s tweets urging people in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia to ‘liberate’ themselves (“Trump’s tweets pushed many online extremist communities to speculate whether the president was advocating for armed conflict, an event they’ve termed “the boogaloo,” for which many far-right activists have been gearing up and advocating since last year.”)
It provides a possible reason Trump is courting the worst of the American military, and QAnon is inspiring gung-ho mercenaries (though it’s worth remembering Trump also has Blackwater founder Erik Prince in his corner as well). Why militias now turn up in support of local sheriffs, and armed protestors are now intimidating lawmakers. And why the Republican party is continuing to select QAnon supporters as political nominees.
Okay, I’m going a bit over the top. This is all very unlikely to be true…I’m free associating between a lot of crazy ideas. I’m just saying though, if QAnoners want to believe in a narrative based on fairly flimsy evidence and a network of random connections, mine is probably more likely than a lying narcissistic man-baby being selected to save the world from an evil cabal of Satanic paedophiles – who since being arrested have been let out on day release with ankle monitors. (Not to mention that the good guys decided to release hints about what was happening to the public through 4Chan, but in cryptic clues so that they didn’t give the game away, but also hoped people would solve the clues anyhow…wut?)
The problem is, it now doesn’t need to be true for the consequences to arise. The likes of Trump, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Paul Vallely and QAnon are at least peddling and promoting aspects of these scenarios, so that we do now have the ‘boogaloo’ movement primed for armed action, and millions of QAnoners who are absolutely gagging to view Obama being lynched on pay-per-view. The tinder is dry, and the fuel load is high.
So what happens when someone lights a match?


News Briefs 28-05-2020

This isn ’ t what we do .
• Sorry , scientists didn ’ t detect evidence of a parallel universe in Antarctica , but they are learning more about ghostly neutrinos .
• Civil war psy-op ?
An alternative narrative of the QAnon conspiracy theory .
• What Trump ’ s tantrum with the WHO means for COVID-19 and global health .
• Trump ’ s new Space Force missile might be too “ super duper.
” • Dinosaurs resorted to cannibalism when food was scarce .
• The mysterious anomaly that seems to be weakening Earth ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news , Goblin King fans !
There ’ s gon na be a Labyrinth sequel and Scott Derrickson will direct it .
• Bad news , Kim Il Sung fans : The supreme leader and founder of North Korea did not have the ability to teleport –shocking , I know… • ‘ Tis the question which has plagued humanity for years : Which batmobile was the most badass ?
• A Q & A with Bernard Baas , author of On Consciousness : Science and Subjectivity .
• Chimpanzees help trace the evolution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
• Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner come to Radio Misterioso to discuss their new book about paranormal Bigfoot .
• Heavy rainfall hits region in Ghana 3 days after arrest of spiritualists who allegedly ‘ hijacked ’ the rain .
• During the quarantine the most illegal car racing record in America was obliterated .
• Red Pill of the Day : Rich people are trying to get in-home plastic surgery during quarantine .
Can ’ t you just wait and use Snapchat filters like everybody else , Karen ?
Quote of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than a fraction of a second .
Such a little time to prepare oneself for eternity !


News Briefs 29-05-2020

“ There are certain injustices in this life you ’ ve got to do something about .
You can ’ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t fight it , or it ’ s too much trouble , or @ @ @ @ @ have the time or the effort , or that you can ’ t win .
@ @ @ @ @ them all !
” • Psilocybin is ready for its close-up , Mr. DeMille .
@ @ @ @ @ .
Are dolphins next ?
Quote of the Day : “ You never reach glory @ @ @ @ @ re willing to risk everything , dare anything , put yourself dead on the line @ @ @ @

“There are certain injustices in this life you’ve got to do something about. You can’t just say that you can’t fight it, or it’s too much trouble, or that you don’t have the time or the effort, or that you can’t win. Forget all that. Fight them all!”
Quote of the Day:
“You never reach glory or self-fulfillment unless you’re willing to risk everything, dare anything, put yourself dead on the line every time.”
Harlan Ellison


News Briefs 01-06-2020

Maybe other timelines are working out better than this one… • Should NASA prepare for viruses from outer space ?
• Snakestones : The myth , magic , and science of ammonites .
• Spain ’ s mysterious mummies : for years , the origins of the Guanches have been a mystery , with some people speculating they could have been descendants of Atlanteans .
• Monkeys attack lab technician and steal coronavirus-positive blood samples .
Never a good sign when news stories are like the beginning of four post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies got mashed together .
• Mice on acid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ market , rodents need to take the first trip .
• Psychedelic drugs could help treat the mental health epidemic we ’ ll face after coronavirus .
• A £339 ‘ anti-5G ’ USB key turns out to be a standard 128MB USB key with a sticker on it .
• Scientists have identified features on the seafloor that indicate the ice edge of Antarctica was reversing at rates of up to 50 metres a day at the end of the last ice age .
• Earth ’ s tectonic plates could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Thanks to Steven and @ UnlikelyWorlds .
Quote of the Day : When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights , we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born .

Maybe other timelines are working out better than this one…
Thanks to Steven and @UnlikelyWorlds.
Quote of the Day:
When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.
Martin Luther King Jr


News Briefs 02-06-2020

‘ When fascism comes to America , it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross ‘ … @ @ @ @ @ cannabis was used by the Israelites to evoke ‘ religious ecstasy ’ .
( For @ @ @ @ @ topic of drug use in the ancient world , be sure to grab a copy @ @ @ @ @ The Long Trip : A Prehistory of Psychedelia . )
• Did Neanderthals draw ?
@ @ @ @ @ test DNA in old cave art to find out .
• If Planet 9 really @ @ @ @ @ the wild way we could hunt it .
• An incredible new bumblebee behaviour was @ @ @ @ @ , scientists can not reproduce .
• Deepfakes are going to wreak havoc on society @ @ @ @ @ .
• White Nationalist group posing as Antifa called for violence on Twitter .
• @ @ @ @ @ fell for a Twitter joke about MSNBC and World War Z. Quote of the Day @ @ @ @ @ you can keep it .

‘When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross‘…
Quote of the Day:
A republic, if you can keep it.
Benjamin Franklin


News Briefs 03-06-2020

How y ’ all doing , okay ?
• We just got even more evidence that Mars once had a @ @ @ @ @ future of the space station looks like after SpaceX ’ s historic launch .
• @ @ @ @ @ surveillance , the anonymous protest is no more .
• AI technology used to recreate @ @ @ @ @ .
• Was the medieval order of Assassins a real thing ?
• Related : @ @ @ @ @ why she believes in Bigfoot .
• Fret not : Ireland ’ s last living @ @ @ @ @ the mythical Irish fairies are coping well with lockdown and “ don ’ t have @ @ @ @ @ restrictions in place .
Quote of the Day : Any real change implies the breakup @ @ @ @ @ has always known it , the loss of all that gave one an identity , @ @ @ @ @

How y’all doing, okay?
Quote of the Day:
Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it, the loss of all that gave one an identity, the end of safety.
James Baldwin


News Briefs 04-06-2020

2020 feels like 1918 , 1929 and 1968 all rolled into one .
• This plane wasn ’ t snooping on protesters in Los Angeles , it was dropping irradiated bugs .
• Somebody recreated the Blue Danube scene of 2001 with the footage of the Dragon capsule docking to the ISS .
• Did Mars ever had rings like Saturn ?
• This is what a 110-million-years-old dinosaur had for dinner .
• Humans and Neanderthals : Less different than browns and polar bears .
• Ancient DNA yields new clues about the Dead Sea scrolls .
• Who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Warminster ?
• Swastikas , spaceships , space and boobs : Welcome to the rollicking world of the Raelians .
• Yours truly had the chance to have a conversation with Mike Clelland for his podcast The Unseen , about following UFOlogy as a ‘ path with heart.
’ • Consciousness : How can I experience things that aren ’ t real ?
• Here ’ s how entrepreneurs can get involved in psychedelic research .
• Ten things you never knew about Stanley Kubrick ’ s last film .
• On top @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to deal with swarms of locusts .
• US Army ’ s new drone swarm may be a weapon of mass destruction .
• Red Pill of the Day : A swarm of nearly 40,000 bees attacked police responding to a single bee sting report .
So I guess the bees are ANTIFA now ?
Quote of the Day : Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will .


News Briefs 05-06-2020

“ Nature exhibits not simply a higher degree but an altogether different level of complexity.
” • The likelihood of @ @ @ @ @ is your brain on coding vs. speech .
• Did Yellowstone already blow its top @ @ @ @ @ : “ There is no single rule that governs the use of geometry .
”


News Briefs 08-06-2020

• Genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in Texas and Florida beginning this summer .
• The Great Filter is @ @ @ @ @ that prevents a species from colonizing space or ever meeting other beings .
Is the @ @ @ @ @ • Related : The Great Filter – why finding alien life would be a horrible @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s giant radio telescope will start searching for aliens in September .
• @ @ @ @ @ explanation for why we never see aliens .
• What has been causing ships to @ @ @ @ @ in the space-time continuum ?
• Santa Fe millionaire Forrest Fenn says the treasure he @ @ @ @ @ has been found .
• Scientists thought this Egyptian mummy was a bird , but @ @ @ @ @ .
Quote of the Day : It ’ s the end of the world as @ @ @ @ @ I feel fine .


dailygrail--2020-06-08--Towards a Science of UFOs

Towards a Science of UFOs

Alexander Wendt is an American political scientist who is widely recognised as one of the foremost experts on international relations .
So , many people would no doubt have been surprised when , at a TEDx talk in November last year , he spoke on the topic of UFOs ( video embedded below ) .
But Wendt has had a long-time interest in ufology – back in 2008 he wrote an academic article combining his ‘ orthodox ’ knowledge and his thoughts on the more heretical topic of UFOs .
And in the recent TEDx talk , he again poses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ science does not feel the need to properly investigate the UFO phenomenon : Human beings are incredibly curious creatures .
We will study anything we do not understand if given the given the possibility .
In fact we are so curious that we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars building giant radar telescopes to look for signs of intelligent life around distant stars , for which there ’ s no evidence whatsoever .
But when it comes to UFOs not a cent .
The scientific community has never done any serious sustained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s in spite of the fact that if it were found that some UFOs were ETS or extraterrestrials it will be one of the most important events in human history , and yet scientists give us only silence and/or ridicule for people who are UFO believers .
This is because , Wendt says , scientists don ’ t believe UFOs exist – and so the challenge is to prove that they do .
This must begin , Wendt asserts , by distinguishing firstly what UFOs are – not ET craft , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and secondly , that only 5-20 % of UFO sighting cases don ’ t have a conventional explanation .
It is these latter cases that Wendt focuses on .
From there Wendt runs through a number of pertinent topics : the recently released Navy UFO videos ; testimony that some UFOs manoeuvred in a manner inconsistent with our understanding of physics ; that we should frame this with an understanding that just over a century ago we thought air travel was impossible , let alone space travel ; and that our technology does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study the phenomenon in new ways ( such as a network of high-res ground cameras ) .
He finishes though , once again , by asking why orthodox science has not investigated the UFO phenomenon in any significant way : Why is this a taboo at all ?
Why is it that pilots and scientists – even political scientists – need to worry about their reputations to talk about this issue in public ?
Why don ’ t we treat UFOs the way we treat everything else that we don ’ t understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rush and try to study it – but in this case the scientists won ’ t touch it with a ten-foot pole ?
I think a clue to this idea of why the taboo exists is in the word taboo itself : because taboos are about fear – cultural fears usually – and I think my suggestion here is that perhaps the reason this taboo is so powerful is that we are afraid subconsciously of what we might find out if we actually opened up the door of science and tried to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leads to my second point and the last thing I ’ ll say , which is that in my view the first responsibility of academics is to tell the truth – and the truth is we have no idea what UFOs are and no one in a position of power or authority is trying to find out .
That should surprise and disturb us all , and I think raises the question of whether the people should try to find out for themselves first instead .
The ironic part is that TED – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt worried enough about the topic being discussed alongside their famous brand that they slapped their usual warning/disclaimer on Wendt ’ s video .
As RPJ mentioned in another post here on the Grail from back in February that discussed this particular TEDx talk , “ perhaps there ’ s no greater way to prove the point of Wendt ’ s argument regarding the cultural stigma imposed on UFOs , than to deem his opinion as ‘ unscientific ’ .
”

Alexander Wendt is an American political scientist who is widely recognised as one of the foremost experts on international relations. So, many people would no doubt have been surprised when, at a TEDx talk in November last year, he spoke on the topic of UFOs (video embedded below).
But Wendt has had a long-time interest in ufology – back in 2008 he wrote an academic article combining his ‘orthodox’ knowledge and his thoughts on the more heretical topic of UFOs. And in the recent TEDx talk, he again poses the puzzling question, of why mainstream science does not feel the need to properly investigate the UFO phenomenon:
Human beings are incredibly curious creatures. We will study anything we do not understand if given the given the possibility. In fact we are so curious that we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars building giant radar telescopes to look for signs of intelligent life around distant stars, for which there’s no evidence whatsoever. But when it comes to UFOs not a cent. The scientific community has never done any serious sustained systematic study of UFO phenomena and that’s in spite of the fact that if it were found that some UFOs were ETS or extraterrestrials it will be one of the most important events in human history, and yet scientists give us only silence and/or ridicule for people who are UFO believers.
This is because, Wendt says, scientists don’t believe UFOs exist – and so the challenge is to prove that they do.
This must begin, Wendt asserts, by distinguishing firstly what UFOs are – not ET craft, but “an unexplained aerial phenomenon” – and secondly, that only 5-20% of UFO sighting cases don’t have a conventional explanation. It is these latter cases that Wendt focuses on.
From there Wendt runs through a number of pertinent topics: the recently released Navy UFO videos; testimony that some UFOs manoeuvred in a manner inconsistent with our understanding of physics; that we should frame this with an understanding that just over a century ago we thought air travel was impossible, let alone space travel; and that our technology does at least now allow us to perhaps study the phenomenon in new ways (such as a network of high-res ground cameras).
He finishes though, once again, by asking why orthodox science has not investigated the UFO phenomenon in any significant way:
Why is this a taboo at all? Why is it that pilots and scientists – even political scientists – need to worry about their reputations to talk about this issue in public? Why don’t we treat UFOs the way we treat everything else that we don’t understand, which is the scientists all go rush and try to study it – but in this case the scientists won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole? I think a clue to this idea of why the taboo exists is in the word taboo itself: because taboos are about fear – cultural fears usually – and I think my suggestion here is that perhaps the reason this taboo is so powerful is that we are afraid subconsciously of what we might find out if we actually opened up the door of science and tried to understand what these phenomena are. But that leads to my second point and the last thing I’ll say, which is that in my view the first responsibility of academics is to tell the truth – and the truth is we have no idea what UFOs are and no one in a position of power or authority is trying to find out. That should surprise and disturb us all, and I think raises the question of whether the people should try to find out for themselves first instead.
The ironic part is that TED – as they are wont to do – felt worried enough about the topic being discussed alongside their famous brand that they slapped their usual warning/disclaimer on Wendt’s video. As RPJ mentioned in another post here on the Grail from back in February that discussed this particular TEDx talk, “perhaps there’s no greater way to prove the point of Wendt’s argument regarding the cultural stigma imposed on UFOs, than to deem his opinion as ‘unscientific’.”


News Briefs 09-06-2020

Intermittent reminder that if you get something of value out of the Grail , please consider a $ 1/month ‘ voluntary subscription ’ via our Patreon to help pay for our time and effort ( or you can give a one-off donation easily at PayPal.me/DailyGrail ) .
Thanks !
• We can no longer ignore the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat depression .
• New therapies offer hope for people trapped by disorders of consciousness .
• Superlative things were done in the past century by marshalling thousands of people in the service of a vision of the future @ @ @ @ @ @ @ • TV series in development based on the alien abduction story of Betty and Barney Hill .
• Hubble has looked back in time as far as it can and still can ’ t find the first stars .
• Physicists think they ’ ve figured out a way to save Schrödinger ’ s cat .
• Tarot resurgence : people turn to the occult in uncertain times .
• Using near-infrared light to 3D print an ear inside the body .
• Ancient asteroids created the ingredients for life on Earth – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Quote of the Day : The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout .
There are weapons that are simply thoughts , attitudes , prejudices…to be found only in the minds of men .
The Twilight Zone ( ‘ The Monsters are Due on Maple Street ’ )

Intermittent reminder that if you get something of value out of the Grail, please consider a $1/month ‘voluntary subscription’ via our Patreon to help pay for our time and effort (or you can give a one-off donation easily at PayPal.me/DailyGrail). Thanks!
Quote of the Day:
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices…to be found only in the minds of men.
The Twilight Zone (‘The Monsters are Due on Maple Street’)


News Briefs 10-06-2020

• Another mysterious , repeating deep space radio burst is sending signals to Earth every 157 days , study finds .
• Black holes could be like a hologram , where all the information is amassed in a two-dimensional surface able to reproduce a three-dimensional image .
• Here ’ s why so many physicists are wrong about free will .
• Studies of brain activity aren ’ t as useful as scientists thought .
• Why a physicist wants to build a particle collider on the Moon .
• IBM says it will no longer offer , develop , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , has some swampland to sell you .
• New study on the effects of the worldwide coronavirus lockdown suggests that “ [ no ] human endeavor has ever saved so many lives in such a short period of time.
” Thanks to Jason for the news tip , and to Michael , Bill , Jeremie , Denise , Jerry , Billy , Chris , Mary , Pascal , Edmund and Kazosaur for your support of the Grail !
Quote of the Day : Do not adjust your mind , it is reality @ @ @ @

Petition to replace all slaver statues with…
Thanks to Jason for the news tip, and to Michael, Bill, Jeremie, Denise, Jerry, Billy, Chris, Mary, Pascal, Edmund and Kazosaur for your support of the Grail!
Quote of the Day:
Do not adjust your mind, it is reality that is malfunctioning.
Robert Anton Wilson


News Briefs 11-06-2020

The Jedi were the ANTIFA of the galaxy .
Just sayin ’ … • Throwing tear gas at protesters is a TERRIBLE idea .
And even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic .
• How a ban on pro-Trump patterns unraveled the online knitting world .
• “ Cyberpunk was a warning , not an aspiration ” says Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith .
• Bryce Zabel wants to make a TV series based on the Betty and Barney Hill abduction .
• Blake Smith of the Monster Talk podcast explains why he ’ s quitting social media ( Rant level @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help us detect people infected with COVID-19 ?
• London foxes show early signs of self-domestication .
Maybe they want to remind us how to use our hearts to see things rightly… • A woman ’ s egg chooses lucky sperm during last moments of conception , study finds .
• Scientists have just found out a new phase of matter .
• Using near-infrared light to 3D-print an ear inside the body .
• Turns out white sharks , the ‘ great man-eaters ’ are actually bottom feeders during their early years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the band ; the plane .
• Has the legendary Fenn treasure chest finally been found ?
• Red Pill of the Day : You think forgetting your bitcoin wallet is bad ?
Someone paid a YUUUGE fee to move just $ 134 worth of cryptocurrency .
Quote of the Day : And now here is my secret , a very simple secret : It is only with the heart that one can see rightly ; what is essential is invisible to the eye .

The Jedi were the ANTIFA of the galaxy. Just sayin’…
Thanks to David Metcalfe.
Quote of the Day:
And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince


News Briefs 12-06-2020

“ Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream , the urge @ @ @ @ @ ” • Did the Mayan Calendar end in 2012… or 2020 ?
• A signal @ @ @ @ @ universe ’ s dark age .
• Forever chemicals are gathering in the Artic… • @ @ @ @ @ the boundary of interstellar space .
Quote of the Day :

“Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true…”
Quote of the Day:
“…and the tendency to miss lunch.”
Tim Berners-Lee


dailygrail--2020-06-12--Ghost Boxes and Psycho-Phones

Ghost Boxes and Psycho-Phones

In 1957 a Swedish painter by the name of Friedrich Jürgenson – a man so famed for his artistic ability that Pope Pius XII had a total of four portraits painted by him at his personal request – purchased a reel to reel tape recorder .
Jürgenson only wished to record his own voice singing but , listening back to the tapes , he began to notice strange fadings in and out .
In 1959 he and his wife went to spend the summer at a cottage they owned in the countryside , and Jürgenson took his tape recorder along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outdoors to record the bird song , but on listening back hardly any birds could be heard .
What sounded like a thunderstorm of static was , shockingly , interrupted by a loud trumpet and then a voice speaking in Norwegian .
Friedrich was amazed to realise that it was the voice of his own long-dead father , seemingly speaking directly to him through the machine .
Soon after his deceased mother ’ s voice also appeared on tape , and this was enough to convince Jürgenson to give up painting and devote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recordings .
Electronic Voice Phenomenon ( EVP ) is the name now commonly given to recordings which are believed to contain communications from ghosts , extraterrestrials , or other entities .
Not content with using mere tape or digital recorders though , many 21st century psychical investigators utilise specially designed devices to aid the dead to speak to them .
In the early 1980s , a device called The Spiricom was designed and utilised by a man by the name of William O ’ Neil .
O ’ Neil claimed to be able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the device , but he also claimed to be psychic and that his own abilities contributed to the workings of the machine .
Plans and instructions for creating The Spiricom were made freely and widely available by O ’ Neil , but no-one seemed to be able to replicate his results .
The 1995 October edition of Popular Electronics Magazine featured a seasonal article entitled “ Ghost Voices : Exploring the Mysteries of Electronic Voice Phenomena – are the dead communicating with us via electronic means ?
” ( read in full online @ @ @ @ @ @ @ piece listed four basic ways in which technology could be used “ to record and hear the voices ” – the Microphone Method , Radio Method , White Noise Method , and the Diode Method .
The author , Konstantinos , presented all his information in the typical Popular Electronics style , with little or no mysticism : this was a simple How-To , guaranteed to yield results provided the instructions were followed correctly .
Inspired by the article , and also apparently by information received directly from the Spirit World , Frank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which became known as Frank ’ s Box .
The device combined a white noise generator and an AM radio receiver specially modified to sweep back and forth through the AM band , selecting split-second snippets of sound .
The modern Ghost Box , or Spirit Box , used by so many psychical investigators works on the same principles as Frank ’ s original design .
Believers arguing that those intelligences they wish to communicate with can manipulate the randomised audio into ( semi ) coherence , while sceptics argue that scanning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voices ” is pretty much cheating .
Ghost Boxes/Spirit Boxes are now mass-manufactured and widely available – you can buy a dozen different models along with your EMF meters , non-contact digital thermometers , and other Ghost Hunting equipment via Amazon or eBay .
Some still favour a less mass-produced approach , however , and this has led to a kind of cottage industry of boutique , handmade devices .
Steve Huff , who runs huffparanormal.com , manufactures apparatus he calls Wonder Boxes , which he sells for near enough two-thousand US dollars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ type , mass-manufactured devices , Wonder Boxes look like something from a 1950s sci-fi film ; all flashing lights and retro stylings .
They also incorporate guitar FX pedals ( which Huff purchases and sticks onto his device ) including reverbs , noise gates , and pitch shifters , just to make sure those spirits sound extra spacey .
The Ghost Box industry has never been more healthy , apps are now available for your phone or tablet and you can start eavesdropping on the other-world with just a few swipes of your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 21st century Ghost Boxes , or at least rumours of them , go back much further even than Friedrich Jürgenson ’ s garden experiments however .
The word “ psycho-phone ” was first suggested and used by Mr. Francis Grierson in a lecture I heard him deliver before the Toronto Theosophical Society , August 31st , 1919 , a year before Thomas Edison announced his intention of devising an instrument which he hopes will serve to establish intercourse between our world and the world of spirit .
So reads the opening paragraph @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the 1921 work Psycho-PhoneMessages Recorded by Francis Grierson .
The volume is a collection of discourses purportedly dictated by such notable ( deceased ) figures as General U. S. Grant , Thomas Jefferson , and Benjamin Disraeli , to name but a few .
Tonner ’ s claim that Thomas Alva Edison , the fourth most prolific inventor in history , was working on a machine to communicate with the dead was , perhaps surprisingly enough based on fact .
The October 1920 issue of American Magazine contained an article entitled “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Next World ” written by one Bertie Charles Forbes ( founder of Forbes Magazine ) .
In an interview conducted by Forbes and published in Scientific American soon after , Edison was quoted as having said : A second Scientific American piece ran in 1921 in which Edison was quoted as saying : In an interview published in the New York Times in 1926 Edison was asked about the comments he ’ d made six years earlier concerning the prospect of investigating the survival of spirits after death , to which he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 1921 , it turns out that when Edison mentioned his machine to communicate with ghosts he was actually just having a bit of a laugh at Forbes ’ ( and his readers ’ ) expense .
[ see Seance Through Science – Edison ’ s Ghost Machine ] Nevertheless , the name Psycho-Phone/Psychophone has come to be associated by many with that ( fictional ) project Edison was working on , people even claiming to have come across the devices .
What of these Psycho-Phone Messages recorded by Francis Grierson then ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of composer and pianist Benjamin Henry Jesse Francis Shepard .
Born in Birkenhead , England ( across the River Mersey , or “ over the water ” , from Liverpool ) Shepard ’ s family emigrated to Illinois , USA in 1849 while he was still an infant .
Shepard was a naturally gifted musician and at the age of twenty he toured the East Coast of America playing piano and singing .
A few short years later he found himself performing in the salons of the rich and famous across Europe .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ II in St. Petersburg .
Already fascinated by Spiritualism he received instruction in the art of conducting séances while in Russia and , upon returning to the United States , became friends with Theosophical Society founder Madame Blavatsky .
Relocating to San Diego in 1887 , Shepard had the impressive turreted mansion , Villa Montezuma , built under the guidance of master architects Comstock and Trotsche .
At Villa Montezuma ( named after the ship which brought the Shepards to America ) Shepard held regular séances and gave bizarre musical performances in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purportedly summoned and permitted the use of Sherpard ’ s body so that they may play again via his living hands .
[ 5 ] It was here that Shepard ’ s alter ego of Francis Grierson was born .
Works published under the name included Modern Mysticism ( 1899 ) , The Invincible Alliance and Other Essays ( 1913 ) , Lincoln , the Practical Mystic ( 1919 ) , and of course Psycho-PhoneMessages ( 1921 ) .
Besides a reference to “ [ t ] he psycho-phonic waves , by which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ author ’ s foreword for Psycho-Phone Messages , there is no further mention of ( let alone any indication as to the nature of ) the titular psycho-phone .
Lawrence Waldemar Tonner ( Shepard ’ s lover and constant companion from their meeting in 1886 until his death ) mentioning Edison may offer a clue , however .
In the book itself each message from the other side is said to have been “ recorded ” .
This could simply mean that it was written down , of course , but it might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made at the time for later reference and transcription .
THE DEAD SPELL IT OUT The use of technology , rather than magic or mysticism , to communicate with otherworldly spirits began in the mid 19th century , going hand in hand with the rise of Spiritualism in the USA .
The above information comes from www.mysteriousplanchette.com , a site dedicated to the history of “ curious devices used for speaking to the dead ” .
The planchette soon became a commercially available item .
Some were used as a means of allowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the living and write out messages ( as mentioned above ) .
Others were used as pointers so that the spirits could spell out their messages a letter at a time on “ alphabet boards ” or “ talking boards ” ( predecessors of the Ouija Board , which is actually a trademark of US toy company Hasbro Inc. ) .
The Mysterious Planchette that the website takes its name from was a British made device which came with an interestingly named accessory : Perhaps most importantly , all of the specimens were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” a 4-panel , fold out sheet ostensibly used in place of prophetic spirit scribblings to point users toward their fates with colorful snippets of fortunes such as the promising “ You Will Be More Fortunate in Old Age , ” the bachelor ’ s dream “ Delay Marriage , ” the heartfelt “ Love and You Will Be Beloved , ” and the Yoda-esque “ Be Not Suspicious.
” Spirit communication technology did advance beyond mere paper , cardboard or wooden boards , and wheeled planchettes however .
In 1853 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Isaac T. Pease , came up with what he called the Spiritual Telegraph Dial : a dial with letters arranged around its circumference , and a central needle to point to them .
Isaac T. Pease ’ s device remains remains the earliest recorded Dial Plate Talking Board – a more technologically advanced sub-genre of the wooden Ouijas we are much more familiar with today .
Some Dial Plates used needles that moved , some plates themselves rotated , some used peep-holes to single out the letters , and so on .
Although @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the mid 1800s it was on the wane by the 1920s and it is easy to see how Edison ’ s jokes with Forbes made much more sense at the time he made them than they do to us now .
Spirit communication devices ( treated with extreme scepticism by many in the first instance , it has to be said ) had become mere novelties , trademarked by toy companies and sold along-side boardgames like Snakes & Ladders .
THE PSYCHO-PHONE CO. INC .
So began episode 701 of US TV @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The device , which guest Vicki had purchased at auction , was a branded Psycho-phone , manufactured in the 1920s .
Upon examining the device one of the show ’ s experts commented : And that is exactly what it was .
The Psycho-phone Co. , Inc. was located at 151 Lafayette Street New York , NY in 1928 , moving to 103 Lafayette Street in 1930 .
A patent for the device was issued in 1927 in the name of Alois Benjamin Saliger , the founder of the company .
Alois @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Salvage Company in New York but was charged with stock fraud in 1919 and turned his hand to inventing .
Despite eventually sharing nomenclature with certain spiritualist mechanisms and devices however , Saliger ’ s invention was patented under the more prosaic title of Automatic Time-Controlled Suggestion Machine .
Spiritualism may have been on the wane somewhat at the time but interest in psychology , and Self-Help in particular , was growing and it was this what Saliger aimed to capitalise on .
His device came with four wax cylinders ( later discs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Saliger himself , messages such as : The clock mentioned in the History Detectives transcript above was timer , which could be set by the user to trigger the Psycho-phone to begin playing whilst they slept .
The idea was that the messages , played on a loop by the device during the wee small hours , would enter the users subconscious and have a positive impact upon their mental and physical well-being as a result .
According to an article published in Antique Phonograph News – the newsletter of the Canadian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2009 edition : Saliger ’ s advertisements acknowledged the scepticism that readers might have , although if they had willingly forked out 25c for Psychology magazine , one might wonder about their capacity for scepticism .
Some headline examples were : - The “ PROOF ” was in testimonials such as : - Because stories of Edison ’ s attempts to create a machine to communicate with the dead still circulate ( almost always minus his 1926 admission that it was all a hoax ) , and because the name psycho-phone has become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people now often believe Saliger ’ s apparatus to be a kind of rare early 20th century Ghost Box .
Indeed adding to the confusion is the fact that some Ghost Box users and creators refer to their own 21st century machines as psycho-phones .
Of course the truth is that Edison did invent – or at least perfect and popularise – technology which provided a more effective means of communication between the dead and the living than anyone had ever done before .
To be able to hear the voice of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was impossible before the phonograph brought wax cylinder recording and playback to the fingertips , and eardrums , of a new generation of tech enthusiasts .
His own voice , his messages to us from beyond the grave , are still engraved in those fragile cylinders and , thanks to more modern descendants of that technology , can still be heard today .
As indeed can the voice of Alois Benjamin Saliger , telling us all from ninety years in the past that tonight is the night we ’ re going to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ ve been so looking forward to .
And , if your nights are anything like mine , that really would be something paranormal .
• The Double-Blind Ghost Box : Scientific Methods , Examples , and Transcripts by Shawn Taylor and Daniel Morgan ( iUniverse Inc , Bloomsbury , 2013 ) • “ Ghost Voices : Exploring the Mysteries of Electronic Voice Phenomena – are the dead communicating with us via electronic means by Konstantinos ( Popular Electronics , 1995 ) http : //www.keyportparanormal.com/images/Popular_Electronics_EVP_2.pdf • Keith Stern : Queers in History @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Lesbians and Bisexuals ( Benbella Books , 2009 )

SPIRIT SOUNDS
In 1957 a Swedish painter by the name of Friedrich Jürgenson – a man so famed for his artistic ability that Pope Pius XII had a total of four portraits painted by him at his personal request – purchased a reel to reel tape recorder. Jürgenson only wished to record his own voice singing but, listening back to the tapes, he began to notice strange fadings in and out. In 1959 he and his wife went to spend the summer at a cottage they owned in the countryside, and Jürgenson took his tape recorder along. The machine had been left running outdoors to record the bird song, but on listening back hardly any birds could be heard. What sounded like a thunderstorm of static was, shockingly, interrupted by a loud trumpet and then a voice speaking in Norwegian. Friedrich was amazed to realise that it was the voice of his own long-dead father, seemingly speaking directly to him through the machine. Soon after his deceased mother’s voice also appeared on tape, and this was enough to convince Jürgenson to give up painting and devote the rest of his life to spirit recordings. Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) is the name now commonly given to recordings which are believed to contain communications from ghosts, extraterrestrials, or other entities. Not content with using mere tape or digital recorders though, many 21st century psychical investigators utilise specially designed devices to aid the dead to speak to them.
In the early 1980s, a device called The Spiricom was designed and utilised by a man by the name of William O’Neil. O’Neil claimed to be able to hold two-way conversations with spirits using the device, but he also claimed to be psychic and that his own abilities contributed to the workings of the machine. Plans and instructions for creating The Spiricom were made freely and widely available by O’Neil, but no-one seemed to be able to replicate his results. The 1995 October edition of Popular Electronics Magazine featured a seasonal article entitled “Ghost Voices: Exploring the Mysteries of Electronic Voice Phenomena – are the dead communicating with us via electronic means?” (read in full online at http://www.keyportparanormal.com/images/Popular_Electronics_EVP_2.pdf). The piece listed four basic ways in which technology could be used “to record and hear the voices” – the Microphone Method, Radio Method, White Noise Method, and the Diode Method. The author, Konstantinos, presented all his information in the typical Popular Electronics style, with little or no mysticism: this was a simple How-To, guaranteed to yield results provided the instructions were followed correctly. Inspired by the article, and also apparently by information received directly from the Spirit World, Frank Sumption created his own device in 2002, which became known as Frank’s Box. The device combined a white noise generator and an AM radio receiver specially modified to sweep back and forth through the AM band, selecting split-second snippets of sound. The modern Ghost Box, or Spirit Box, used by so many psychical investigators works on the same principles as Frank’s original design. Believers arguing that those intelligences they wish to communicate with can manipulate the randomised audio into (semi)coherence, while sceptics argue that scanning through actual talk radio to “hear voices” is pretty much cheating.
Ghost Boxes/Spirit Boxes are now mass-manufactured and widely available – you can buy a dozen different models along with your EMF meters, non-contact digital thermometers, and other Ghost Hunting equipment via Amazon or eBay. Some still favour a less mass-produced approach, however, and this has led to a kind of cottage industry of boutique, handmade devices. Steve Huff, who runs huffparanormal.com, manufactures apparatus he calls Wonder Boxes, which he sells for near enough two-thousand US dollars apiece. Unlike the palm-sized transistor radio type, mass-manufactured devices, Wonder Boxes look like something from a 1950s sci-fi film; all flashing lights and retro stylings. They also incorporate guitar FX pedals (which Huff purchases and sticks onto his device) including reverbs, noise gates, and pitch shifters, just to make sure those spirits sound extra spacey.
The Ghost Box industry has never been more healthy, apps are now available for your phone or tablet and you can start eavesdropping on the other-world with just a few swipes of your finger. The predecessors of the 20th and 21st century Ghost Boxes, or at least rumours of them, go back much further even than Friedrich Jürgenson’s garden experiments however.
VOICES FROM THE PAST
The word “psycho-phone” was first suggested and used by Mr. Francis Grierson in a lecture I heard him deliver before the Toronto Theosophical Society, August 31st, 1919, a year before Thomas Edison announced his intention of devising an instrument which he hopes will serve to establish intercourse between our world and the world of spirit.
So reads the opening paragraph of Lawrence Waldemar Tonner’s introduction to the 1921 work Psycho-PhoneMessages Recorded by Francis Grierson. The volume is a collection of discourses purportedly dictated by such notable (deceased) figures as General U. S. Grant, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Disraeli, to name but a few. Tonner’s claim that Thomas Alva Edison, the fourth most prolific inventor in history, was working on a machine to communicate with the dead was, perhaps surprisingly enough based on fact.
The October 1920 issue of American Magazine contained an article entitled “Edison Working on How to Communicate with the Next World” written by one Bertie Charles Forbes (founder of Forbes Magazine). In an interview conducted by Forbes and published in Scientific American soon after, Edison was quoted as having said:
If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical and scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, and other faculties and knowledge that we acquire on Earth […] I am inclined to believe that our personality hereafter will be able to affect matter. If this reasoning be correct, then, if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected, moved, or manipulated […] by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something.
A second Scientific American piece ran in 1921 in which Edison was quoted as saying:
I don’t claim anything, because I don’t know anything […] for that matter, no human being knows […] but I do claim that it is possible to construct an apparatus which will be so delicate that if there are personalities in another existence who wish to get in touch with us […] this apparatus will at least give them a better opportunity.
In an interview published in the New York Times in 1926 Edison was asked about the comments he’d made six years earlier concerning the prospect of investigating the survival of spirits after death, to which he replied:
I really had nothing to tell him [Forbes], but I hated to disappoint him so I thought up this story about communicating with spirits, but it was all a joke.
So, while seemingly factual in 1921, it turns out that when Edison mentioned his machine to communicate with ghosts he was actually just having a bit of a laugh at Forbes’ (and his readers’) expense. [see Seance Through Science – Edison’s Ghost Machine] Nevertheless, the name Psycho-Phone/Psychophone has come to be associated by many with that (fictional) project Edison was working on, people even claiming to have come across the devices.
What of these Psycho-Phone Messages recorded by Francis Grierson then? Francis Grierson was in fact a pseudonym of composer and pianist Benjamin Henry Jesse Francis Shepard. Born in Birkenhead, England (across the River Mersey, or “over the water”, from Liverpool) Shepard’s family emigrated to Illinois, USA in 1849 while he was still an infant. Shepard was a naturally gifted musician and at the age of twenty he toured the East Coast of America playing piano and singing. A few short years later he found himself performing in the salons of the rich and famous across Europe. In 1871 Shepard played for Czar Alexander II in St. Petersburg. Already fascinated by Spiritualism he received instruction in the art of conducting séances while in Russia and, upon returning to the United States, became friends with Theosophical Society founder Madame Blavatsky. Relocating to San Diego in 1887, Shepard had the impressive turreted mansion, Villa Montezuma, built under the guidance of master architects Comstock and Trotsche. At Villa Montezuma (named after the ship which brought the Shepards to America) Shepard held regular séances and gave bizarre musical performances in which the spirits of long dead composers were purportedly summoned and permitted the use of Sherpard’s body so that they may play again via his living hands. [5] It was here that Shepard’s alter ego of Francis Grierson was born. Works published under the name included Modern Mysticism (1899), The Invincible Alliance and Other Essays (1913), Lincoln, the Practical Mystic (1919), and of course Psycho-PhoneMessages (1921).
Besides a reference to “[t]he psycho-phonic waves, by which the messages are imparted” in the author’s foreword for Psycho-Phone Messages, there is no further mention of (let alone any indication as to the nature of) the titular psycho-phone. Lawrence Waldemar Tonner (Shepard’s lover and constant companion from their meeting in 1886 until his death) mentioning Edison may offer a clue, however. In the book itself each message from the other side is said to have been “recorded”. This could simply mean that it was written down, of course, but it might easily be a reference to phonographic recordings made at the time for later reference and transcription.
THE DEAD SPELL IT OUT
The use of technology, rather than magic or mysticism, to communicate with otherworldly spirits began in the mid 19th century, going hand in hand with the rise of Spiritualism in the USA.
With the establishment of the belief in spirits willing and able to communicate with the living through special gifted mediums, it was only a matter of time before improvements were made to the manner of communication. Simple knocked affirmations to often leading questions quickly gave way to ponderous alphabet-calling, wherein the raps would select letters from a called-out alphabet in order to spell out messages one letter at a time. But accounts from even the earliest days of rapping mediums tell of alphabet cards and tiles used to facilitate faster communication.
[…]
June 10, 1853 marks the first known use of an impromptu automatic writer in the West, as witnessed by the Spiritist Allan Kardec, who attended the Paris table-tipping seance at which its invention occurred. According to Kardec, a “fervent partisan of the new phenomena” present at the seance made the suggestion as an alternative to the laborious process of alphabet-calling and tiresome rapped responses, and manufactured a small upturned basket, to which he secured a pencil, in order for several participants to participate in writing out messages from their spiritual controls. The device’s first message said sternly “I expressly forbid your repeating to anyone what I have just told you. The next time I write, I shall do it better.” No one now knows exactly who coined the phrase, but the name “little plank” was given to the device, or, in the original French, “planchette.”
The above information comes from www.mysteriousplanchette.com, a site dedicated to the history of “curious devices used for speaking to the dead”. The planchette soon became a commercially available item. Some were used as a means of allowing the spirits to guide the hands of the living and write out messages (as mentioned above). Others were used as pointers so that the spirits could spell out their messages a letter at a time on “alphabet boards” or “talking boards” (predecessors of the Ouija Board, which is actually a trademark of US toy company Hasbro Inc.). The Mysterious Planchette that the website takes its name from was a British made device which came with an interestingly named accessory:
Perhaps most importantly, all of the specimens were packaged with the mind-numbingly named “Physio-Psychophone,” a 4-panel, fold out sheet ostensibly used in place of prophetic spirit scribblings to point users toward their fates with colorful snippets of fortunes such as the promising “You Will Be More Fortunate in Old Age,” the bachelor’s dream “Delay Marriage,” the heartfelt “Love and You Will Be Beloved,” and the Yoda-esque “Be Not Suspicious.”
Spirit communication technology did advance beyond mere paper, cardboard or wooden boards, and wheeled planchettes however. In 1853, a Connecticut spiritualist by the name of Isaac T. Pease, came up with what he called the Spiritual Telegraph Dial: a dial with letters arranged around its circumference, and a central needle to point to them. Isaac T. Pease’s device remains remains the earliest recorded Dial Plate Talking Board – a more technologically advanced sub-genre of the wooden Ouijas we are much more familiar with today. Some Dial Plates used needles that moved, some plates themselves rotated, some used peep-holes to single out the letters, and so on. Although the craze for spiritual communication devices began in the mid 1800s it was on the wane by the 1920s and it is easy to see how Edison’s jokes with Forbes made much more sense at the time he made them than they do to us now. Spirit communication devices (treated with extreme scepticism by many in the first instance, it has to be said) had become mere novelties, trademarked by toy companies and sold along-side boardgames like Snakes & Ladders.
THE PSYCHO-PHONE CO. INC.
“Our first story takes us to the edges of scientific discovery at the turn of the 20th century. Thomas Edison was the most prolific inventor in American history – making breakthroughs in telephone technology, motion pictures, electric lighting, and of course, the phonograph, or sound recording machine. He changed the way we live but was Edison also investigating what happened after death? Vicki and Dallas Childress of Cincinnati, Ohio, believe they have a device that may reveal a different side of Thomas Edison. The theory of it is that it was invented to communicate with the other side, or the dead.”
So began episode 701 of US TV channel PBS’ popular History Detectives series. The device, which guest Vicki had purchased at auction, was a branded Psycho-phone, manufactured in the 1920s. Upon examining the device one of the show’s experts commented:
“The thing that jumps right out is this clock. That’s a big question mark. It’s unusual. I’ve never seen a clock mounted like that on an Edison phonograph. Another thing, this is a really unusual part here. I wonder if it’s a repeater device for rewinding and replaying repeatedly the record.”
And that is exactly what it was. The Psycho-phone Co., Inc. was located at 151 Lafayette Street New York, NY in 1928, moving to 103 Lafayette Street in 1930. A patent for the device was issued in 1927 in the name of Alois Benjamin Saliger, the founder of the company. Alois was the owner of the Saliger Ship Salvage Company in New York but was charged with stock fraud in 1919 and turned his hand to inventing. Despite eventually sharing nomenclature with certain spiritualist mechanisms and devices however, Saliger’s invention was patented under the more prosaic title of Automatic Time-Controlled Suggestion Machine. Spiritualism may have been on the wane somewhat at the time but interest in psychology, and Self-Help in particular, was growing and it was this what Saliger aimed to capitalise on. His device came with four wax cylinders (later discs) on which positive messages were recorded by Saliger himself, messages such as:
“This is the great Psycho-phone talking to you. It will not disturb your sleep… on the other hand, it will induce restful slumber.” “You are being rejuvenated in perfect health. Your weight is normal. Your hair is growing in luxurious abundance. I am now having a wonderful rest.”
The clock mentioned in the History Detectives transcript above was timer, which could be set by the user to trigger the Psycho-phone to begin playing whilst they slept. The idea was that the messages, played on a loop by the device during the wee small hours, would enter the users subconscious and have a positive impact upon their mental and physical well-being as a result. According to an article published in Antique Phonograph News – the newsletter of the
Canadian Antique Phonograph Society – in their July-August 2009 edition:
Saliger’s advertisements acknowledged the scepticism that readers might have, although if they had willingly forked out 25c for Psychology magazine, one might wonder about their capacity for scepticism. Some headline examples were:-
Laugh at this “Crazy” Invention, but Read the PROOF of What it Has Done for Others. It develops Your Powers for Success…Health…Personality… While You Sleep
A Triumph of Science
You Can Get More Money
The “PROOF” was in testimonials such as:-
“I have overcome a great fear and inferiority complex I now take great pleasure in work. I am quite successful.”
“I was troubled with constipation all my life and at the present time my bowel movement is normal I was continually worrying and I have not indulged in worry for some time past my practice has more than doubled. (Physician)”
Because stories of Edison’s attempts to create a machine to communicate with the dead still circulate (almost always minus his 1926 admission that it was all a hoax), and because the name psycho-phone has become erroneously connected to that fabled device, people now often believe Saliger’s apparatus to be a kind of rare early 20th century Ghost Box. Indeed adding to the confusion is the fact that some Ghost Box users and creators refer to their own 21st century machines as psycho-phones.
Of course the truth is that Edison did invent – or at least perfect and popularise – technology which provided a more effective means of communication between the dead and the living than anyone had ever done before. To be able to hear the voice of a deceased loved one years after their demise was impossible before the phonograph brought wax cylinder recording and playback to the fingertips, and eardrums, of a new generation of tech enthusiasts. His own voice, his messages to us from beyond the grave, are still engraved in those fragile cylinders and, thanks to more modern descendants of that technology, can still be heard today. As indeed can the voice of Alois Benjamin Saliger, telling us all from ninety years in the past that tonight is the night we’re going to get that perfect, restful, rejuvenating sleep we’ve been so looking forward to. And, if your nights are anything like mine, that really would be something paranormal.
References


News Briefs 15-06-2020

• Stuff just keeps getting older : 48,000-year-old bow and arrow technology in the tropical rainforests of Sri Lanka is @ @ @ @ @ • This cave hosted the oldest known human remains in Europe .
• A surprise @ @ @ @ @ of Fast Radio Bursts .
• What happens in your brain when you make memories @ @ @ @ @ help scientists understand why the drug causes out-of-body experiences .
• Ghost boxes and psycho-phones @ @ @ @ @ the spirit world ?
Quote of the Day : Our society is run by insane @ @ @ @ @


News Briefs 16-06-2020

• There could be more than 30 alien civilisations in our galaxy , researchers have found in a major study .
Or…not ?
• Ominous green fireball lights up the sky over the Australian outback .
No triffids please , Australia has enough deadly creatures already .
• That ‘ human bone ’ found in NASA Mars photo isn ’ t even new .
Here ’ s the real story .
• Related : Seeing the spaceship – why we need to pay attention to anomalies .
• How the Coronavirus pandemic can help us prepare for an asteroid impact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
• Hummingbirds can see colours we can ’ t even imagine , study reveals .
• The Dalai Lama says the seven billion people on Earth need to develop “ a sense of oneness “ .
• Fact check : British anti-racism protesters did not call for the destruction of the Giza Pyramids .
• Scientists are recommending MDMA for treating mental health after lockdown .
• Video of the Day : Dinosaurs lived on the other side of the galaxy .
Quote of the Day : Knowledge is simply a kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of understanding to convert it into power .


News Briefs 17-06-2020

Where we go one , we go all… • Scientists edited human embryos in the lab , and it was @ @ @ @ @ gene-hack goats to make cancer drug in their milk .
• The effects of psychedelics @ @ @ @ @ “ consciousness conductor ” .
• Like humans , these big-brained birds may owe their @ @ @ @ @ • We thought we knew the biggest dinosaur ever , but something else might have @ @ @ @ @ New park in Oregon is named after famous exploding whale incident .
• Physicists have @ @ @ @ @ scale using a quantum computer .
• Video of the Day : The secret history @ @ @ @ @ of the Day : Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the @ @ @ @ @ and life is long and there is time to kill today .
And then one @ @ @ @ @ have got behind you .
No one told you when to run , you missed @ @ @ @

Where we go one, we go all…
Thanks to @AnomalistNews.
Quote of the Day:
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
Pink Floyd, “Time“


News Briefs 18-06-2020

If we don ’ t learn to care for one another the “ new normal ” is gon na suck ass as much as the old normal .
• More than 7 in 10 Americans will not use contact-tracing apps to counter COVID spread , data shows .
• An army of volunteers is taking on vaccine disinformation online .
• West Virginians are campaigning to replace Confederate statues with Mothman .
• Millions of Americans believe Trump is fighting literal demons .
• The US Space Force is losing a trademark battle with Netflix .
• Turns out those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lake beds .
• Former DIA Director Thomas Wilson denies any knowledge of a controversial memo which was claimed to prove the reality of UFO reverse engineering black programs .
• Segway inventor Dean Kamen has a new project : Manufacture human organs as if they were factory parts .
• How PTSD went from ‘ shell shock ’ to a recognized medical diagnosis .
• Fossilized egg found in Antarctica might belong to extinct sea lizard .
Whatever you do , do NOT try to hatch that thing !
This ain ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ • The difference between thaumaturgy and theurgy .
• Now is your chance to own a Scottish pub with a notorious horror film history .
• You can also own your very own Boston Dynamics killer robodog .
• Red Pill of the Day : Austrian police defend decision to fine a man after “ provocative fart.
” Breaking ( wind ) and entering ?
Quote of the Day : We can ’ t live any more in a world which is based on stuff and not ideas .
If you want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re all doomed .

If we don’t learn to care for one another the “new normal” is gonna suck ass as much as the old normal.
Thanks to Greg
Quote of the Day:
We can’t live any more in a world which is based on stuff and not ideas. If you want to live with the world of stuff, we’re all doomed.
Dean Kamen, American inventor


News Briefs 19-06-2020

“ The bulk of the world ’ s knowledge is an imaginary construction.
” • The drawbacks of life on @ @ @ @ @ the Day : “ I do not want the peace that passeth understanding .
I @ @ @ @ @ peace .
”


dailygrail--2020-06-20--The Five Craziest Bill Gates Vaccine Conspiracy Theories

I ’ ve always been partial to a good , fun conspiracy theory .
Trying to fit all the pieces together to find a hidden story , even if done with a hefty amount of speculative glue , is always an exciting pursuit .
The age of social media , however , is turning me into a grouchy old curmudgeon when it comes to conspiracy theories .
They ’ re spreading like wildfire on Facebook , Twitter and YouTube , even when they ’ re dumb as a box of hammers .
How bad is it ?
Consider this : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defending Bill Gates .
Please understand : I ’ ve been ragging on the Microsoft co-founder since way back in the ’ 90s .
This isn ’ t easy for me .
But after seeing post after post on social media this week attacking Gates as some sort of demonic grim reaper , poised to remove billions of people from the planet with his poisonous vaccines , I felt compelled to speak up .
Because when conspiracy theories are *not* fun , is when they are ( a ) literally putting people ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ b ) purposefully deceitful .
And make no mistake : the impact of most of these conspiracy theories will be to have more people rejecting vaccines – an outcome which will cost many lives .
Whether they ’ re started by alt-med grifters , true believers , or as influence operations , I can ’ t say – but in the end , the result will be the same .
So , here ’ s a sampling of the crazy Bill Gates conspiracy theories going around at the moment , along with why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to let your friends know the next time they share one on social media : 1 .
Bill Gates admitted that he was going to depopulate the planet by killing people with vaccines .
This one regularly makes the rounds , usually in the form of a short clip from a TED talk given by Gates , in which he says… There it is !
Boom , not even shy about it , Bill Gates says straight up , in public , that his vaccines are going to kill billions of people .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s saying .
The actual story : Bill Gates believes that by increasing the chance of childhood survival through vaccines , that parents will decide to have less children because they feel more secure that they won ’ t lose them to disease : Now , you can certainly argue whether Bill Gates is correct in this assumption , for sure .
But he is not saying that vaccines are going to kill off people – actually , he ’ s saying the opposite .
He ’ s trusting that they will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and that will help lower population in future by lowering birth rates .
Tied in to the previous conspiracy meme , comes this one : an image that circulates regularly ‘ showing ’ that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are behind a ‘ Center for Global Human Population Reduction ’ .
The problem ?
There is no such center , and the image is photoshopped .
But that hasn ’ t stopped it from being shared widely across social media , without anyone stopping to ask if it is real .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ make $ 200 billion from pushing vaccines on to people .
One of the funnier things I ’ ve seen going around is the claim that Bill Gates is making vaccines so he can be rich .
Okay , sure , maybe he could be richer .
But still… Those pushing this line are quick to point out that Gates has said on a number of occasions that he has figured out there is a 20:1 return on investment for vaccinees – so the $ 10 billion he ’ s put into vaccines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The full video , however , tells a different story .
What Gates is saying is that him donating $ 10 billion to global health programs results in an estimated $ 200 billion in social and economic benefits – as well as saving millions of lives .
As Gates notes in the part of the video that is edited out… 4 .
Bill Gates is gleefully talking about injecting children with genetically modified organisms .
Yet another deceptively edited clip shows Bill Gates apparently talking gleefully about jamming a needle in kids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( GMOs ) : If , however , you watch the full video ( Gates starts talking at 2:07 ) , you ’ ll find something surprising : he ’ s actually advocating for careful testing before doing anything with GMOs .
After his wife Melinda begins the talk advocating for the usage of GM crops in Africa , Bill Gates chimes in by saying… 5 .
Bill Gates wants to put a microchip in the coronavirus vaccine and given to everybody in the world so that they can be tracked .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the beast ’ conspiracy theory , dressed up 2020 style !
To be fair , there ’ s some background to this conspiracy theory that makes it reasonably plausible .
The Gates ’ Foundation has supported research into quantum dot technology for storing vaccination records as a micro-tattoo of sorts ( not a microchip though , and not trackable remotely ) , and also into using microchips to ‘ track ’ medical samples taken from patients ( not patients themselves though ; not ‘ trackable ’ remotely ; and not containing confidential information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rumour in with another Gates-backed project , ID2020 , which seeks to create a global digital identification system .
However , it ’ s fair to ask why , in the age of ubiquitous smart phones , advanced facial recognition systems and biometric identification , Bill Gates would need to embed a microchip in everybody .
And it might be interesting to find out how many of the people frightened by this conspiracy theory use Windows or Microsoft ’ s Office suite of products… So , no Bill Gates is not using the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ global surveillance system .
( That already exists , silly . )
We should certainly keep a close eye on billionaires and how they use their money and power to influence decision-making that affects us all .
And we should be aware of how our privacy is constantly being eroded by the growth in surveillance systems .
However , we also need to understand that in the age of social media there is an army of grifters and political operatives seeking to use fear of vaccines , and mistrust in the likes of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ achieve their own objectives .
And they don ’ t care whether their spreading of misinformation ends up killing thousands of people .
So it ’ s up to us .
Before spreading that viral conspiracy theory – and likewise , before eating up any heart-warming stories about Saint Bill – we need to look at each story on its merits , check whether it is valid , and let truth guide us , rather than our political or cognitive biases .

I’ve always been partial to a good, fun conspiracy theory. Trying to fit all the pieces together to find a hidden story, even if done with a hefty amount of speculative glue, is always an exciting pursuit.
The age of social media, however, is turning me into a grouchy old curmudgeon when it comes to conspiracy theories. They’re spreading like wildfire on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, even when they’re dumb as a box of hammers.
How bad is it? Consider this: I’m now writing a post defending Bill Gates.
Please understand: I’ve been ragging on the Microsoft co-founder since way back in the ’90s. This isn’t easy for me. But after seeing post after post on social media this week attacking Gates as some sort of demonic grim reaper, poised to remove billions of people from the planet with his poisonous vaccines, I felt compelled to speak up.
Because when conspiracy theories are *not* fun, is when they are (a) literally putting people’s lives at risk, and (b) purposefully deceitful.
And make no mistake: the impact of most of these conspiracy theories will be to have more people rejecting vaccines – an outcome which will cost many lives. Whether they’re started by alt-med grifters, true believers, or as influence operations, I can’t say – but in the end, the result will be the same.
So, here’s a sampling of the crazy Bill Gates conspiracy theories going around at the moment, along with why they’re bullshit – feel free to let your friends know the next time they share one on social media:
1. Bill Gates admitted that he was going to depopulate the planet by killing people with vaccines.
This one regularly makes the rounds, usually in the form of a short clip from a TED talk given by Gates, in which he says…
The world today has 6.8 billion people, that’s headed up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.
There it is! Boom, not even shy about it, Bill Gates says straight up, in public, that his vaccines are going to kill billions of people.
Except that’s not what he’s saying. The actual story: Bill Gates believes that by increasing the chance of childhood survival through vaccines, that parents will decide to have less children because they feel more secure that they won’t lose them to disease:
A surprising but critical fact we learned was that reducing the number of deaths actually reduces population growth… Contrary to the Malthusian view that population will grow to the limit of however many kids can be fed, in fact parents choose to have enough kids to give them a high chance that several will survive to support them as they grow old. As the number of kids who survived to adulthood goes up, parents can achieve this goal without having as many children.
Now, you can certainly argue whether Bill Gates is correct in this assumption, for sure. But he is not saying that vaccines are going to kill off people – actually, he’s saying the opposite. He’s trusting that they will help children survive disease in their youth, and that will help lower population in future by lowering birth rates.
2. The Center for Global Human Population Reduction
Tied in to the previous conspiracy meme, comes this one: an image that circulates regularly ‘showing’ that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are behind a ‘Center for Global Human Population Reduction’.
Obama is doing this in Africa, Democrat agenda if they won the next election to continue this killings in Africa. Please open yr eye disagree this groups who wants to depopulation u. Bill gates, Obama, Hillary Clinton, see it yourself and you failed to make sense and vote Joe. pic.twitter.com/6UoDW4arul — atatajazrinjunior (@atatajazrinjun1) June 15, 2020
The problem? There is no such center, and the image is photoshopped. But that hasn’t stopped it from being shared widely across social media, without anyone stopping to ask if it is real.
3. Bill Gates is going to make $200 billion from pushing vaccines on to people.
One of the funnier things I’ve seen going around is the claim that Bill Gates is making vaccines so he can be rich. Okay, sure, maybe he could be richer. But still…
Those pushing this line are quick to point out that Gates has said on a number of occasions that he has figured out there is a 20:1 return on investment for vaccinees – so the $10 billion he’s put into vaccines has earned $200 billion in profit.
Gates thinks his return on investment of fooling the entire empathetic humanity into his insufficiently tested new Anti-SARS-CoV-2-RNA-injections aka gene manipulation of guinea pigs called humans with the #CoronapLandemic will be greater than 20:1.#ExposeBillGates pic.twitter.com/X0dxu6D9Mm — Thomas Binder, MD (@Thomas_Binder) June 13, 2020
The full video, however, tells a different story. What Gates is saying is that him donating $10 billion to global health programs results in an estimated $200 billion in social and economic benefits – as well as saving millions of lives.
As Gates notes in the part of the video that is edited out…
…Helping young children live, get the right nutrition, contribute to their countries – that has a payback that goes beyond any typical financial return.
4. Bill Gates is gleefully talking about injecting children with genetically modified organisms.
Yet another deceptively edited clip shows Bill Gates apparently talking gleefully about jamming a needle in kids’ arms and injecting genetically modified organisms (GMOs):
If, however, you watch the full video (Gates starts talking at 2:07), you’ll find something surprising: he’s actually advocating for careful testing before doing anything with GMOs. After his wife Melinda begins the talk advocating for the usage of GM crops in Africa, Bill Gates chimes in by saying…
The strongest analogy is to medicines…is there something to worry about with medicines, that is, might some of them have side effects? Do we need safety testing? I mean, we’re taking things that are genetically modified organisms, and we’re injecting them into little kids’ arms…we just shoot them right into the vein. So yeah, I think maybe we should have a safety system, where we do trials and test things out.
5. Bill Gates wants to put a microchip in the coronavirus vaccine and given to everybody in the world so that they can be tracked.
It’s the old ‘mark of the beast’ conspiracy theory, dressed up 2020 style!
To be fair, there’s some background to this conspiracy theory that makes it reasonably plausible. The Gates’ Foundation has supported research into quantum dot technology for storing vaccination records as a micro-tattoo of sorts (not a microchip though, and not trackable remotely), and also into using microchips to ‘track’ medical samples taken from patients (not patients themselves though; not ‘trackable’ remotely; and not containing confidential information).
Conspiracy theorists have tied this rumour in with another Gates-backed project, ID2020, which seeks to create a global digital identification system.
However, it’s fair to ask why, in the age of ubiquitous smart phones, advanced facial recognition systems and biometric identification, Bill Gates would need to embed a microchip in everybody. And it might be interesting to find out how many of the people frightened by this conspiracy theory use Windows or Microsoft’s Office suite of products…
So, no Bill Gates is not using the coronavirus as an opportunity to build a global surveillance system. (That already exists, silly.)
———-
We should certainly keep a close eye on billionaires and how they use their money and power to influence decision-making that affects us all. And we should be aware of how our privacy is constantly being eroded by the growth in surveillance systems.
However, we also need to understand that in the age of social media there is an army of grifters and political operatives seeking to use fear of vaccines, and mistrust in the likes of Bill Gates, as a tool to achieve their own objectives. And they don’t care whether their spreading of misinformation ends up killing thousands of people.
So it’s up to us. Before spreading that viral conspiracy theory – and likewise, before eating up any heart-warming stories about Saint Bill – we need to look at each story on its merits, check whether it is valid, and let truth guide us, rather than our political or cognitive biases.


News Briefs 22-06-2020

• Vast neolithic circle of deep shafts found near Stonehenge is the largest prehistoric structure ever found in Britain .
• Nabta Playa : the world ’ s first astronomical site was built in Africa and is older than Stonehenge .
• Statue of Albert Pike , Confederate general and a founding father of Scottish Rite Freemasonry , is toppled in Washington , D.C. • Illinois ’ s Cahokia Mounds are open to visitors again after the coronavirus lockdown .
• The anti-vax movement ’ s radical shift from crunch granola purists to far-right crusaders .
• Did the Greeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or as something else altogether ?
• One fifth of Earth ’ s ocean floor is now mapped .
Alternative headline : 80 % of Earth ’ s ocean floor remains a mystery .
• Mysterious scars on Hawaiian shark could be sign of a giant squid attack .
• Giant squid weighing over 700 pounds washes up on beach .
• Trump signals he has ‘ interesting ’ details on Roswell , after his son asks him about aliens on podcast .
• Image ( s ) of the Day : Rare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solstice .
Quote of the Day : Your heart is the size of an ocean .
Go find yourself in its hidden depths .


dailygrail--2020-06-22--The End is Beginning: Watch the Trailer for Season 3 of Dark

Netflix ’ s German-language series Dark is one of our favourite television shows in recent years here at the Grail , on the basis of its masterful handling of a complex storyline involving both sci-fi and esoteric elements ( see for example our previous article , “ The Emerald Tablet : The Esoteric Text at the Core of Netflix ’ s Hit Series Dark “ ) .
The good news for Dark fans : Season 3 drops Friday , June 26 ( 2020 , for all you time travelers out there ) !
The bad news : It sounds like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the very on-brand tagline : “ The end is the beginning .
And the beginning is the end.
” Watch the trailer for Season 3 below ( some spoilers for previous seasons , so if you ’ ve not watched them yet…what the hell are you doing , binge hard this week ! )
.
To be honest , in many ways it feels good that this could be the final season – the management of the storyline so far has been brilliant , and it feels like one more season would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bloat or loss of precision in navigating the complex timelines in this TV sci-fi masterpiece .

Netflix’s German-language series Dark is one of our favourite television shows in recent years here at the Grail, on the basis of its masterful handling of a complex storyline involving both sci-fi and esoteric elements (see for example our previous article, “The Emerald Tablet: The Esoteric Text at the Core of Netflix’s Hit Series Dark“).
The good news for Dark fans: Season 3 drops Friday, June 26 (2020, for all you time travelers out there)! The bad news: It sounds like Season 3 is the final season, from the very on-brand tagline: “The end is the beginning. And the beginning is the end.”
Watch the trailer for Season 3 below (some spoilers for previous seasons, so if you’ve not watched them yet…what the hell are you doing, binge hard this week!).
To be honest, in many ways it feels good that this could be the final season – the management of the storyline so far has been brilliant, and it feels like one more season would wrap it up fairly tightly without any bloat or loss of precision in navigating the complex timelines in this TV sci-fi masterpiece.


News Briefs 23-06-2020

• Silicon-based life , that staple of science fiction , may not be likely after all .
• Related : Are pulsars actually navigation beacons used as a ‘ galactic positioning system ’ by aliens ?
• Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain .
• How volcanic eruptions can change the course of human history .
• Bacteria found in nuclear reactors could be the secret to faster , cheaper vaccines .
And also faster , cheaper superhero origin stories .
• Pluto may once have been a habitable world .
• TikTok teens are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enemies aren ’ t meant to be beaten – they ’ re meant to be eternally fought .
That ’ s why , for Trump , every enemy is simultaneously terrifying and incompetent .
Quote of the Day : Shamanism is a path of knowledge , not of faith , and that knowledge can not come from me or anyone else in this reality .
To acquire that knowledge , including the knowledge of the reality of the spirits , it is necessary to step through the shaman ’ s doorway and acquire @ @ @

TFW the Daily Grail news briefs are super-interesting…
Quote of the Day:
Shamanism is a path of knowledge, not of faith, and that knowledge cannot come from me or anyone else in this reality. To acquire that knowledge, including the knowledge of the reality of the spirits, it is necessary to step through the shaman’s doorway and acquire empirical evidence.
Michael Harner


News Briefs 24-06-2020

• SETI gets a grant to search for alien technosignatures .
• Life on Earth is a sketchy guide to @ @ @ @ @ Why some physicists really think there ’ s a ‘ mirror universe ‘ hiding in @ @ @ @ @ and volcanoes go together .
• Scientists simulated a sea slug to study decision making @ @ @ @ @ to drugs .
• People should have the fundamental right to change their consciousness .
@ @ @ @ @ psychology helps us to understand paranormal beliefs and sightings .
• Senator Marco Rubio wants @ @ @ @ @ government ’ s UFO data .
• Pluto has likely maintained an underground liquid ocean @ @ @ @ @ • NASA simulation shows kaleidoscope of sunsets on other worlds .
• Video of the @ @ @ @ @ Soviets detonated a nuclear bomb to extinguish a natural gas fire .
Quote of the @ @ @ @ @ , there is no will to power , and where power predominates , love is @ @ @ @ @ the shadow of the other .

Tension building, 2020 style…
Thanks Jonahh and Steven.
Quote of the Day:
Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Carl Jung