Ancient Stones Speak: David D. Zink

The Ancient Stones Speak: A Journey to the World's Most Mysterious Megalithic Sites – October 1, 1979

"Until the present work, however, no one has pointed out the surprising number of megalithic structures located at or near these intersections."

1. Giza, the Great Pyramid

3. Tyumen oil field, USSR

4. Lake Baikal, USSR, many unique plants and animals

9. Hudson Bay, present location of north magnetic pole

11. Northern British Isles, Maes Howe, Ring of Brodgar, Callanish

12. Mohenjo Daro-Rama Empire culture

13. Pyramids in Xian, China, the largest in the world

14. Southern Japan Dragon's Triangle, great seismic activity

16. Hamakulta, nearby lies Hawaii, scene of high volcanic and earthquake activity

17. The sophisticated canal civilization of Cibola

18. Bimini, the site of huge man-made walls underwater, discovered in 1969, the date that Edgar Cayce had predicted that evidence of Atlantis would be discovered

20. Algerian megalithic ruin

21. Megaliths at Axum, the Coptic Christian center in Ethiopia

25. Bangkok and Angkor Wat

26. Sarawak, Borneo, site of ancient megalithic structures

28. Pohnpei Island, Micronesia, site of the megalithic city of Nan Madol

35. Lima, Peru, boundary of the Nazca Plate, Pisco, the Candlestick of the Andes & the Nazca Lines

40. Gabon, West Africa, natural atomic reactor in operation about 1.7 million years ago

41. Zimbabwe with its ancient mines & structures

44. The Maralinga Atomic Test Site, which also has megalithic ruins

47. Easter Island and its megaliths

62. German underground Antarctic base?

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582369011/vortexmapscom-20

VortexMaps.com: The Science Behind Earth Magic

The nearest place to take refuge and regroup

Out for a run, her brown hair pulled back into a short ponytail, wearing a t-shirt and lycra shorts, sweaty, still breathing hard, Mary knocks on my apartment door. I've just moved out of the UC Davis dormitories and into an apartment with a roommate, Andy, he's not home, so I open the door knowing that the knock's not for me.

“Hi!”

“Hi, is Andy home?”

“No, you want to leave a note?”

“... ok.”

Mary steps in and says she's hoping to buy some weed from him. She writes down her phone number and I give her a joint. Later I run into her again, she lives with an ex-con named Nick in an apartment across from my friend Scott, and I begin to stop in to see her, too, when I visit Scott. Within a few months I have my own apartment, though no real furniture, and some nights Mary sleeps with me on the floor and shares my sleeping bag.

Mary graduates, and I drop out and we plan a long-distance hike together in the El Dorado National Forest. We prepare packages of dried foods to be mailed to us, and we leave them with our friend Tom, who drops us off at the trailhead. In only a couple weeks, fall turns to winter, and our three-season tent isn't enough. We hitchhike to the nearest place where we can take refuge and regroup. That's Kirkwood Ski Resort, there's an expensive little convenience store there. We waterproof our tent in the employee laundry room, then I find the cover of a pickup truck bed in the basement parking garage for us to sleep under while we're waiting for the waterproofing to dry. We camp out in the snow, heating rocks in the fire, wrapping them in a t-shirt, and taking them into our sleeping bags with us. Our food packages never arrive. We hear that the trail ahead is impassable, expert hikers are turning back.

Prepared for a UFO?

It's night, and I wait until Mom and Dad have retired to their bedroom, then I walk around the house turning off all the inside and outside lights. Living at the end of Fairway Drive, we have just a few neighbors to each side of our house. My bedroom window faces the backyard, and beyond our fence the wooded hill we call Mount Baldy, not really big enough to be a mountain. My brother Larry and I climb to the top on occasions when we feel like hiking for hours. The hillside is protected Open Space, although there's a fire road it's blocked off to all vehicles.

I put on a bathing suit and grab a towel. Our upstairs bathroom has a door that opens out to a deck and a stairway down to the backyard with a pool and a cedar hot tub. Mom designed the pool as two hexagons that are slightly offset. It looks pretty cool, but in practice two corners project into the pool, creating a narrow 'waist' that's a bit of a hazard to swimmers. I step into the hot tub, with the temperature set at 103 degrees. Many nights I stay in the tub for more than an hour. Tonight it's clear and there's no moon. It's dark, and there's a good view of the stars. I look up at the sky. Some nights I can see a satellite. My vision is better than average, 30/20. It's 1978, so there aren't too many satellites passing overhead. I like to see if I can spot them just as they rise over the horizon, so I can watch them cross the whole sky.

I soak in the tub for about ten minutes. Then, below the peak of Mount Baldy, I see lights, a horizontal, rectangular array of lights, each of the lights is about the size of the side of a train boxcar. The whole array of lights is 5 lights wide and 5 lights high. Not all the lights are lit at once. They flash on, and off, in a complex pattern, white and yellow and orange, for two seconds, then the lights are gone. From where I sit, at the end of a narrow valley, it looks as though those lights were meant to be seen by me. That bright, silent signal to me conveyed at least two meanings: we're here, and we know you're here.

I'm not quite sure how I feel or what to think about what I just saw. I calmly step out of the tub, wrap my towel, drip my way up the outdoor stairs, and go directly to my roll-top desk and write down every detail, and draw a sketch. I tell nobody.

Seeing the UFO raised the same questions again as my other paranormal experiences: What just happened? What part did I play? What does it mean? Will it happen again? What next? Is it safe to talk to anybody about it?

For more than 30 years I never told anyone about my UFO experience. Eventually I began to share my experience. One of my friends commented, “That sounds like the lights in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” I had seen the movie when it came out in 1977, but I hadn't seen it since then, so I re-watched it. Sure enough, in the scene when the UFO lands at Devils Tower, the rectangular lights look very similar to the array of lights I saw from my backyard in 1978. At that time, I didn't make the connection between my UFO sighting and the scene in Close Encounters. The similarity seems incredible, but Spielberg did his homework. For me the most salient scene in the movie is not when the humans meet the aliens, but when Roy (Richard Dreyfus) is madly piling mashed potatoes on his plate into the shape of Devils Tower, struggling to make sense of his paranormal experience, and Ronnie (Teri Garr) is mortified. My main takeaway the first time I watched Close Encounters was that your family and other people will think you're crazy, even if you're not.

To this day, I risk my reputation, and other people risk theirs, by announcing our interest in the paranormal. Not to mention our beliefs and experiences! The only solution is strength in numbers. Make the Paranormal Normal. Take the Paranormal Pledge. Talk about your paranormal experiences. You'll be quite pleasantly surprised that when you do, many people also share their experiences.

Seven years after my UFO sighting, it's 1985. I'm dropping out of University of California at Davis, smoking weed from a bong named Phil, taking a long-distance hike in the Eldorado National Forest with my girlfriend, getting her pregnant in a tent in the snow, and then working in a tofu shop, when “they” came in disguise.

I work the late-night cleanup shift at Wildwood Tofu in Fairfax, California, among shops, restaurants and a tiny nightclub where greats such as Dylan and members of the Grateful Dead used to show up unannounced to play a set. The tofu kitchen is relatively small; the walls and floor covered entirely in white tile, and filled with commercial-sized kitchen equipment including a massive vat for cooking the soy beans, numerous stainless steel tables, a three-basin sink, and a soymilk bottling station. I work by myself, often starting after midnight. The kitchen is at ground level, with the offices upstairs. The glass entry door and the windows abut the sidewalk. While I hose and scrub the whole place, the glass steams up. One night, a man stops and looks through the window, and he looks so friendly that I open the front door and invite him in. 

My Unlikely Initiation into the Paranormal

I am sitting in the bleachers at Candlestick Park, watching the San Francisco Giants play baseball. It's 1971, I'm 7 years old, and my brother Larry is 10, he's sitting to my right, and Dad is on my left. We're sitting above third base so we have a pretty good view of San Francisco Bay. The Giants have a winning team including Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. I am not really interested in baseball, and don't know the players names, except McCovey, I only know him because my Uncle Hal is McCovey's attorney, and that's how we got the tickets to the game. At first, I find the baseball game pretty boring. For the moment, everything seems normal to me. The thought occurs to me, “I wonder what would happen if the catcher missed a pitch?” Juan Marichal throws that pitch and sure enough the catcher misses it. That was the last time things seemed normal to me. I had more questions. Why did I have that thought just then? Is it possible to know events before they happen? Would it happen to me again? At that time, I became alert to the possibility that everything might not be exactly as it appears. It did happen again. A couple years later I had another very similar experience at a rollerskating rink during a cakewalk, I knew the number 19 before they called it.

I think that part of the reason that I started having these paranormal experiences is that Dad was successful enough as an Assistant District Attorney that when my little sister Sue was born, he had a three-bedroom, two-story home custom built at the end of Fairway Drive in Novato, and Mom gave me and Larry the chance to choose our own light fixtures for the new house. Mom is the artsy type and fancies herself an interior designer so she took us to a store displaying more than a thousand light fixtures. I chose a plain, round fixture that hung from a cord. Larry chose the same one. Our bedrooms were upstairs, and the master bedroom and baby sister's room were downstairs. Our light switches had dimmers, and I discovered that I could turn down the light almost completely, until the globe was barely visible. When I lay in my bed and gazed up at the barely visible sphere of light, it would seem to fade away. I enjoyed this night after night. At the time I didn't realize that I had stumbled onto a meditation technique.

Many years later, I worked for a company called Tools for Exploration that was the leading seller of “brain machines” including bio-feedback devices, selling “Ganzfeld Goggles,” goggles that present your eyes with a uniform, featureless field of light. This induces a meditative state, or you could say an altered or expanded state of consciousness. At 6 years old, by gazing at my dim round light fixture, I was going into meditation. My gazing meditations must have prepared me for the paranormal experiences to come. And those paranormal experiences prepared me somewhat for the night when a UFO contacted me.

Nick Nelson tried to make maps of the area within the Oregon Vortex

An excerpt from the Vortex Field Guide:

"As part of the research for his book, Nick Nelson tried to make maps of the area within the Oregon Vortex, but found his efforts to be scrupulously accurate thwarted by the dynamics of the field. He would carefully measure every building and other features like the demo platforms, make drawings of them based on compass readings, and then go home to turn the sketches into a carefully drawn map. The next day with the new map in hand he would check it for accuracy. No matter how careful his measurements and compass readings he never got any of the maps to match the next day’s reality check."

“I would stand in a certain spot, for instance lining up the side of a building with a fence post, and then the fence post with a tree trunk. If all three were in perfect visual alignment I’d take a compass reading, and then mark the spot where my feet were. The next day when standing on the exact same spot and peering down the outer wall of the building the fence post might be out of alignment by a couple of degrees of arc, and worse, the tree truck off this line that used to be straight would be off by an even greater angle. I never really got used to this sort of thing. Always, a violent shiver invariably ran up my spine. The scenery is not supposed to move!”

"Compasses when used inside the vortex to sight objects outside of it work properly, however the compass when used to sight objects inside the vortex are unreliable. A magnetic compass needle may point directly at an object, but in an hour or so will point to one side of that object by a few degrees. This effect is a larger aspect of the dynamics of the area as opposed to a direct malfunction of the compass."

"Close attention shows that a compass inside these areas always points without variance to the same landscape feature outside the line of demarcation. It only diverges from its last reading when used to line up items inside the vortex."

"These two photos were taken at a location in Portland, OR. The camera was hand held, and the photographer tended to focus on the subject rather than holding the camera focused between the two poles, but this small problem cannot explain the extreme distortions between the first photo and the second pole. 

Note; not only did the human being and the poles change heights measurable INSIDE THE PHOTOGRAPH, but the background (principally the school bus) has shifted position from one picture to the other as the subject moved across the line of Demarcation between the poles from left to right. The camera was the same distance from the subject in both shots."

"The only conclusion left is that ...the scenery really does move! That, of course, leaves a few rather thorny questions hanging: What does this say about the nature of the scenery? If the scenery moves, therefore being influenced by what appears to be a very subtle force, what is it made out of? If trees and fence posts can be easily pushed around the yard inside the vortex, what about those same kind of items outside a vortex? What are we made out of?"

Time lapse of Earth-energy patterns at a sacred mound from Freddy Silva

Time lapse of Earth-energy patterns at a sacred mound.

http://www.invisibletemple.com/extra/energy-measured-in-sacred-sites.html #whatsavortex

via NASA Goddard: "Seawater is an electrical conductor, and therefore interacts with Earth's magnetic field. As the tides cycle around the ocean basins, the ocean water essentially tries to pull the geomagnetic field lines along. " #whatsavortex VIDEO SOURCE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaBnNdyH4k4

How I Came to Be a Paranormal Vortex Detective, by Dan Shaw

The best way for you to understand what a Paranormal Vortex is, is for me to explain how I came to be a Paranormal Vortex Detective. Each of us has experiences in our lives that stand out above all the rest. Experiences that transformed our lives. Those experiences often include be our first sexual experience, marriages, having children, deaths of parents and loved ones, and also conversations with friends and maybe watching TED talks. Every one of us has had experiences in our own lives that transformed how we see the world, and how we live in the world. These transformative experiences I just mentioned are normal experiences, as humans we all go through them. I have never been interested in normal experiences. I began meditating and having psychic experiences at the age of 7, and since then I have been much more interested in paranormal experiences than in normal experiences. A UFO made contact with me when I was 14. When I was 21 a midnight visit from a stranger changed the course of my life forever. These three paranormal events, as I'll explain, transformed my life in unimaginable ways. None of them seems directly related to vortexes, true, but these events set the stage for a series of minor miracles. First a UFO “found” me, then the “stranger” found me, and then, in a similar way, vortexes found me. Vortexes found me, in fact, when I was bottoming out in the days after my separation from my wife and two young children, when I was crying every day. Vortexes lifted me up emotionally, and vortex research gave focus and direction to my life. That was more than 20 years ago, and my children have children, and vortexes still “carry” me today, inspiring me, instilling awe and curiosity and bringing me into contact with many wonderful people, including you.

black metal sounds like surf rock

i just grokked how much black metal sounds like surf rock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1edoJH9iGI

&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QroMYExLprM

f.lux reduces blue light from devices after dark 4 better sleep

Computer screens, tablets and mobile phones emit full spectrum light around the clock, just like the sun. Exposure to blue light at the wrong time of day can keep you awake later and interfere with the quality of your sleep. f.lux tries to help this by removing blue and green light to help you wind down in the evenings. justgetflux.com/ #gooddesign

A mind that is stretched by a new experience

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Story structure

authors: horror author @TheDanWells recommends Star Trek Roleplaying Game Narrator's Guide #storystructure #gooddesign  https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582369011/vortexmapscom-20

"This place creeps me out."

 #whatsavortex http://vortexmaps.com

a street like yours

On Monday I was walking down a street like yours

I was reminded of begonia flowers

Folks sit on porches and pass the hours

Breezes blow fallen leaves about my feet

Yellow on one side, on one side red

Lifted up and whirled

Wet leaves leave rust stains on the walk

Dry leaves crush brittle under foot and boot

Bikes whir by

An occasional wispy cloud scutters across the autumn sky

Gusts bend branches, and blossoms and leaves cascade to the ground

Chimes lightly chime

Some old pumpkins slowly split and slump, collapse and crumble

Old man Marshall in overalls lumbers up and down a paint-spattered ladder

Hanging strings of small white lights

A small dog wobbles along on a discrete errand known to him only

Puddles rush out from under car tires and back

Rakes scrape graying leaves across lawns into heaps

Pink and orange the sky glows

And every branch and trunk is evenly lit, without anywhere a shadow

Dusk comes early and cold descends fast

as the sun behind grassy hills drops low

Crisp dark night sky stars shine

Smoke snakes above mossy roof tops

Inside, families gather cozy at flickering fires

Drinking cocoa, tea and nog.

Soon carolers will arrive

Wandering from home to home to home

Before long we will crawl under covers and cuddle beneath comforters

Sleep in a tangle of sheets

Easy dreams bring deep release

by DanShaw.com

as a mirror (poem)

I stand before you as a mirror

But not a perfect mirror, no

A piece of work rejected at the factory as flawed

Sold at a discount perhaps

Never framed, left around, moved here and there,

A corner chipped, then taped together

The silver peeled

Labeled ‘mirror’

Stained with fingerprints

Dirt adhered where gum from stickers long forgotten once stuck

Scratched by overzealous scrubbing

Tried to sell at a yard sale, unsold, given away

(I could not throw it away, it might make good art supplies)

Part of a growing collection of mirrors, no room, no room

I have others far better, some worse

I have written poems about this mirror; it would make a good movie, too

Fingernail polish makes a good paint

I have layered on other materials, too

I could not stop for the paint to dry

We stuck on other mirrors with little more than spit

It could not be moved or it might fall apart

There is no room to eat at the table, there is no time

Dinner doesn’t matter as much

The mirror must be layered, layered

With images of a kind

I do not see it as art just something that must be done

It must not be left undone

The mirror gives life meaning

What would I do without it

You may laugh and whisper but I do not notice and if I did I would not care

You may say that I can not separate myself from the mirror

But that is nonsense to me

I would not want to

The mirror is everything

Stand back make room I can not hear you shut up

What is the price of stopping?

I sharpen a knife to scrape away layer after layer and reapply pine needles

Please do not open the curtains, No!

There is no reason

To let outside life distract me

The life inside is life

I do not understand you, how can you have no mirror?

by DanShaw.com

Unless you’re here

There’s a lot of miles of road between my bonnie girl and me

A mile of road may as well be the Andaman Sea

Girl I’m missing you as soon as I open my eyes

Missing you from sunset to each empty sunrise

I console myself that we are looking at the same moon

Even through the distance we’re as connected as can be

Safe and strong in the connection that we share

Miles of stinging longing electrify the air

I’m afraid some jars will stay unopened until I get home

And who will read the poems?

Even flowers in the garden long to be taken home to you

My day hasn’t really happened unless you’re here to tell it to

The sorrow of separation can only be matched by the joy of reunion

God willing, I’ll be home before the first snow falls

And see your shining glow and feel your embrace

And gently stroke your glorious face and hair

And scratch your back where you can’t reach

And softly snore

In the warm luxurious comfort of home, and heart, and you

By DanShaw.com

Your business storefront sign could be 100% better

Some business owners spend thousands of dollars on a sign for their storefront, but most never really think through what makes a sign effective. By following these simple suggestions to design your storefront sign, you will bring in more customers and make more money.

Visible from up and down the road

If your sign is on the front of your building, and your building is close to the street, your sign will not be visible to passing traffic until they are in front of your business, and then only if the driver turns her head to read your sign. Your sign needs to be more or less perpendicular to the roadway, and so will have to be lettered on two sides. Even if your business is one a one-way street, your sign should be double-sided for pedestrians. A sign painted on the building will only be highly visible if your building is set back a good distance from the road. But even then, you should have a sign right up at the roadside. Pedestrians are not likely to wait for the signal to cross a busy street unless they can clearly see your shop sign.

Visible from sufficient distance

Your sign needs to be visible from at least 500 feet away. Especially if traffic is moving at speeds around 55 miles per hour, drivers need plenty of time to slow down safely to pull in to your business. Make sure that your sign is high enough to be seen above cars and trucks, and that it is not blocked by tree branches, etc.

Well lit

Even if your business is shut at night, you want people passing by after dark to see your business. Make sure your sign is well lit. Check frequently to make sure that all the light bulbs are working.

Lettering of sufficient size

To be visible from 500 feet, especially in a fast-moving vehicle, letters need to be 12 inches high, for people with normal vision. As the average age of the population increases, more and more of your customers will have impaired vision, so your sign needs to at least meet these standards, if not exceed them.

High contrast lettering

Use black lettering, or a dark color, against a white or light-colored background. Do not use reverse type, that is, white against a black or dark-colored background. Our eyes have evolved to focus on an object (foreground) against a background. Work with this natural tendency, not against it.

Use plain lettering

Use relatively plain lettering, not fancy lettering such as cursive.

Use all upper case

Upper case letters are learned first, and people can read upper case more easily than lower-case or mixed-case lettering.

Distinguish your business from the competition

You are competing for the attention of customers who have limited time, attention, and money. Fewer shoppers will stop at a store with a sign that says “POTTERY” than at a store with a sign that says “LOCAL HANDMADE POTTERY”.

Be brief

Shorter is better.

Grab attention with something a little unexpected

Do something creative with your signage to capture your customers’ attention and to make it memorable. Nobody remembers the logo for Kaybee Toys, now out of business, but everyone remembers that the “R” in Toys-R-Us is backwards.

Promote your website on your sign

Of the hundreds or thousands of people driving and walking past your sign every day, only a small percentage will stop at your business. Make sure your sign communicates effectively to everyone who passes by. Your website name, the dot-com, is your de facto business name. Promote it.

For more profitable business communication advice, see DanShaw.com.

Capturing Oral History on Video

Tips for Storytellers and for behind the Camera

By Dan Shaw

What does it take to capture compelling video of personal stories? With just a basic grasp of the technology, and these tips and techniques, you will feel confident to tell your own stories on camera, and to gather others’ stories. Whether you are in front of the camera or behind it, you’ll find it useful to be familiar with some of the situations that often occur in capturing oral history on video, and how to prepare and respond with ease and professionalism. It’s common for people to film themselves as well, so we’ll begin from the perspective of you, the storyteller, proceed to some notes for you, the camera operator, and conclude with tips for people filming themselves. For simplicity, I use the terms film and video interchangeably, and make no distinction between stories and oral history.

You’ve got stories to tell

Stories are personal, and may be emotional. Keep some water handy for the speaker, and tissues. Choose a camera operator with whom you feel comfortable.

Plan Ahead

A well-planned video will go more smoothly, be easier to edit, and cost less.

Will you be sharing this video with family and friends? Putting it on DVD, or on the web, or both? Keeping the answers to these questions in mind will help you get the best results.

Makeup and Wardrobe

Be sure to bring a comb, and to look in the mirror before you go on camera. Get a haircut, perhaps, but avoid making drastic changes to your appearance just before your video shoot. Avoid wearing white clothes, they may be too bright especially under studio lights. Do not wear a color that is similar to the background color. Do not wear patterns such as narrow stripes that may create an unusual optical effect (moiré) on video.

Script

Plan an introduction. Plan a strong close. Make notes of the points you want to be sure to include, but don’t read from a script.

Location

Set a time and place where you will feel comfortable. Your home may be a good choice, or you may choose another location. An outdoor location may be nice, but avoid direct sunlight as it can be unflattering. Avoid the sound of water in the background. Use a mic screen to quiet a light wind but don’t film in a strong wind.

Sound

Do what you can to reduce background noise, although some background noises may be inevitable and acceptable, such as sirens, other noises are avoidable and can ruin a video, such as a fridge, air conditioner, squeaky chair, or a lawnmower. A professional will be able to put a microphone on you to get the best sound; consumer grade cameras do not have an input for an external microphone, so the camera should be as close to you as practical. Be sure to get a sound check. Record about 60 seconds of video, then rewind and listen to it to be sure the quality is satisfactory.

Light

Good quality cameras work remarkably well in low light, but most homes are dimly lit, and you will get better results by bringing in a lamp or two from another room, and perhaps removing a lampshade. Avoid hats which may shade the eyes.

Camera Angle, etc.

It’s most likely that your camera is mounted on a tripod. In other words, the camera position does not change. In that case, you can still add some visual interest with zooming. Start with a ‘wide’ shot, taking in more of the setting and background. You might even start with a shot of the setting, then slowly pan (turn) the camera to face your storyteller. Listen for a natural break, such as the end of a sentence, then begin a slow zoom in closer. It may be appropriate to zoom in to a close-up as the story reaches an intense moment. Then return to the ‘regular’ shot. As the story comes to close, you can slowly zoom out again.

Choose a visually interesting background. Choose a chair that will help you sit up straight, or sit on the edge of your seat.

Monologue or interview format?

Often, people will make a few ‘false starts’ when they are talking in front of a camera. But, after a few minutes, they are on a roll. Some people may feel more comfortable answering questions than monologing. Be sure that the question can be clearly heard. If there is only one mic, make sure the storyteller answers in complete sentences. Also be sure that the questioner is not nearer to the microphone (or camera mic) than the storyteller, or the questions will be louder than the answers.

If two people are on camera, to place the camera is as close as possible, so that faces are as large as possible, seat people almost knee to knee.

Rehearsal

Film a short segment, and review your storytelling and video quality. This kind of ‘bio-feedback’ is invaluable in improving your skills in front of the camera and behind it. If you are also editing the video, use this first, short segment as a practice run. If you have some problem with your video, it’s best to know sooner and to work it out on a five minute video instead of a longer segment.

Filming: Take as much time as you need

If you feel that you could have said something better, simply pause, back up a little, and start again from any point.

If you have limited time, you may want to have someone (the “stage manager”) at intervals hold up fingers or cards showing how many minutes you have remaining.

Filming things, photos and documents

If you have objects to film, this may be a good opportunity to add some movement. Slowly rotate the object to show both sides. Zoom in and zoom out slowly. Take still photos, too, as these may be useful in editing together the finished video. It is preferable to digitize (scan) photos and documents to add in post-production rather than filming them. If you are filming photos, be sure to the photos are steady, not hand-held, and beware of glare.

Review the unedited footage before you pay for editing

For any number of reasons you may decide that you do not want your video released, for example, “I didn’t realize there was that rude graffiti in the background!” Don’t pay for editing until you’re sure the raw footage is satisfactory. You can save money and time by taking notes of the editing that needs to be done. These notes showing “in times” and “out times” are called an “Edit Decision List” (EDL). You can download a blank EDL from DanShaw.com.

Filming Yourself

If you are filming yourself, do a test run.

Editing

You may to need your video edited before it is ready to share. Having video professionally edited may be expensive. You can minimize this expense with good planning. Most computers come with software that allows even a novice to do a passable job.

Sharing

After editing, the video is ‘rendered’ into whatever format you need, and you may need DVD format and web format. You can burn DVDs yourself on your computer; you will need a program such as Nero. The duplication process is time-consuming. You can find duplicating services in most urban areas; check with your copy shop or camera shop.

Saving

If you intend to save your video for the future, then you will want to save it digitally, such as on a computer hard drive, and also on a ‘hard copy’ such as a DVD. As of this writing (2013), DVD remains the format of choice, despite the advent of Blu Ray disks. DVD’s and Blu Rays disks may seem durable, but they are not archival quality, and may not last for 10 years. The data is written on a thin film affixed to the top of the disk, so the serious archivist will not label disks at all, not with an adhesive label, and not with ink. Obviously unlabeled disks are difficult to manage. Fortunately there is a compromise. Since the data is written on the disks from the center to the edge, often there is blank space on the edge of the disk, so you can safely write on an arc around the edge without risk to the data.

Taking your next steps

Fortunately, capturing compelling stories on video does not require perfection. Yet storytelling and filmmaking are fine arts. Expert filmmaking actually requires a team of experts, but anyone can make a decent video with just a little practice. You will encounter new situations and you will learn every time you do a video.

Storytelling and filmmaking are intimately woven together and woven into the human experience. Both storytelling and filmmaking preserve historical and cultural knowledge and values. Storytelling and filmmaking thus play a vital role in transmitting knowledge and values now, and in bequeathing these gifts to future generations. You’ll find that capturing oral histories on video is also immensely rewarding personally.

Dan Shaw is the author of Business Website Boot Camp Workbook and he is available for video work within and outside the Rogue Valley. Related articles on Hiring a Filmmaker, Filming Conferences, Preparing for Video, What to do now that your video has been edited, are available at DanShaw.com.

How to have meetings people won’t hate

By Dan Shaw

What does it take to hold effective meetings, meetings that people will enjoy rather than dread? Let’s look first at the reasons people say they hate meetings, then we can easily identify how to avoid those pitfalls.

Reasons People Hate Meetings

The number one reason (according to GiveMore.com's 2012 survey):

·       Meeting leaders allow attendees to ramble and repeat comments and thoughts.

Other complaints about meetings that were listed as the most frustrating were:

• Starts late, goes off agenda, finishes late
• No specific action items or takeaway points
• No clear purpose or objective
• Not inspiring or motivating
• Not organized and there is no agenda
• Too long
• Repeating information for late arrivals
• Weak presenter who is unprepared, monotone, or overly redundant
• Boring and provides no new or interesting information

source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2113-employees-hate-meetings.html

These seem perfectly reasonable objections to bad meetings.

Here’s how to avoid these pitfalls:

• Identify a clear purpose
• Identify specific action items or takeaway points
• Distribute an agenda in advance of the meeting to give people time to prepare
• Do not attend (or require attendance at) meetings unless new info will be conveyed
• Limit duration of meetings to 90 minutes. If a meeting must run two hours, allow a 10 minute break
• Start on time, appoint a timekeeper
• Appoint a recorder
• Do not repeat info for late arrivals
• Stay on agenda; appoint a monitor
• Choose skilled presenters
• Finish on time

Agenda sets time limits.

The agenda should specify time allotted to each topic. Because if not times are specified, it gives the mis-impression that everything is equally important.

Create a visual record.

If everyone in the room can see the minutes being recorded, this solves several problems at once. It minimizes repetition…

For more info on Running effective meetings, agendas, and visual records see:

https://www.ohrd.wisc.edu/home/HideATab/LeadershipManagementDevelopment/HowtoLeadEffectiveMeetings/BestPractices/tabid/162/Default.aspx

© 2013 DanShaw.com

Filming Conferences, Lectures and other live events

Filming Conferences, Lectures and other live events

Filming live events, limitations
Because the event is live, we will film as best we can under the circumstances, but, we do not get second takes, etc., so some imperfections are unavoidable due to background sounds, poor lighting, limitations on camera placement, etc. Plan a brief pause between speakers for a microphone change, and film (tape) change.

Privacy
Different rules of etiquette may apply when filming live events. Attendees may not want to be on film for numerous reasons. In general, film only the speaker; don't film the audience without explicit instructions and permission. At the beginning of the event, the Master of Ceremonies should mention that the event is being filmed, and the camera is filming the speaker not the audience. Of course, under certain circumstances, for example, if there is a question and answer session, you will want to film the audience. At any time, the client, or the speaker, may request that the filming be stopped.

Cell phone interference
The M.C. should request attendees turn off their mobile phones (not just silence them) each time they convene. Silenced mobile phones may interfere with audio. Other audio interference, for example, from electronics outside the room, may be unavoidable.

Unobtrusiveness
Filming should not interfere with the speaker or distract the participants.

Location scouting
If at all possible, the client and filmmaker should scout the location in advance, at the same time of day that the shoot will take place. Where are the electrical outlets? How is the lighting? Are there windows? Is the sun shining on the speaker from behind? Are there curtains, and can they be shut? Do the lights make noise or flicker? Does the ventilation, or other equipment or activity make noise? Can doors be shut? Murphy's Law applies here.

Giving your filmmaker good direction
Provide the filmmaker with the most detailed schedule possible, and be sure to notify the filmmaker of changes to the schedule. The filmmaker will use his best judgment to get the most useful footage possible. You can help tremendously by giving the filmmaker good direction.

If the video is going to tape, the speaker may want to pause briefly for tape changeover hourly.

Arranging for special footage
If there is an opportunity to get additional footage, such as private interviews during lectures breaks, or Gramma before the wedding, plan ahead and arrange for these.

 "B Roll"
Think ahead to plan what kinds of additional footage you might want, such as shots of all the attendees at the banquet, brief interview with the honorees, exhibitors, etc.

Breakout sessions
If there are concurrent breakout sessions, choose which you most want to be filmed.

Still photos
You may find additional still photos invaluable for your video project. Plan to hire a photographer, or ask a volunteer to get still photos, for instance, of honorees.

Filming PowerPoint presentations
How you want to film a PowerPoint depends on various factors including whether or not the slides convey information not conveyed by the speaker, whether the text is sufficient size to be legible, and whether the room lighting is sufficient to see the speaker, number of slides, and how smooth or fast the pan and zoom from speaker to slides. Most often, video quality is much improved by inserting the PowerPoint images in post-production, though this can be time consuming, i.e., expensive. Be sure to get the PowerPoint presentation on disk for future use.

Lighting
In general specialty lighting is not required since newer video cams perform very well using just available (ambient) light. However, look out for lights that flicker or buzz.

Audio
If you have a sound system, plug directly in to it to minimize background noises. You may need to ask your audio guy's permission. If you don't have a sound system, put a wireless microphone on the speaker.

In some urban settings, a wired microphone is preferable to wireless, since some electronic devices may interfere with wireless transmission, including mobile phones in silent mode, and radio frequencies used by some emergency services.

Meals and Perks
If you will be serving meals, arrange to feed the filmmaker, and to serve the filmmaker early, first, late, or to go, depending on circumstances. Often the filmmaker barely has time to enjoy a meal. Filming a conference is not attending and participating at a conference, so the conference itself is not a 'perk'.

Conference Organizer retains all rights
Make sure your filmmaker will not release any footage without your express written permission.

Permission to release short segments
If you give permission to others to release film segments, be sure to agree in advance to specific wording of on-screen credits.

Delivery of Master DVD's
Be sure to keep a set of "raw" (unedited) master DVD's, for your archives, and for your future use. Check these DVD's immediately for completeness and report any deficiency promptly. Retain the original master tape cassettes for safety.

Post-production editing
Once you have reviewed the raw footage, you will have a clearer idea of what is needed in post-production. Unless post-production is minimal, negotiate post-production separately.

Make the best use of your video once it is live.
For further information, see DanShaw.com

Hiring a filmmaker By DanShaw.com

Hiring a filmmaker By DanShaw.com

 
"I'm thinking of having a film made. What should I know about hiring a filmmaker? How much will a film cost and what should I expect from my filmmaker?"

Despite the continually dropping prices of electronic gear, and the seeming ubiquity of video cameras, making quality films requires a lot of expensive equipment and thousands of hours, even years and decades of professional experience. It is true that anyone with a web cam or even a cell phone can make short videos for youtube.com, but making effective or even watchable films is an art and a science.

Buying your own camera

If you are considering buying a video camera, the first thing you need to know is that consumer level cameras can cost under $500, but professional cameras are likely to cost nearer $1,000. The main feature that distinguishes a pro level camera from a consumer-grade camera is that the pro cameras will have an input for an external microphone. If you are at all serious about doing videos you will need an external mic jack. Shooting in all different situations requires that you will sometimes have to put your camera in a less-than-optimal position, for example, at the back of the room so you are not blocking an audience (or the bride's family!), or far enough from your subject to take in a wide area, such as an entire stage. Since the volume of sound drops off exponentially, if you move your mic twice as far away, you will get one quarter of the volume you would have at the nearer placement. You will want to place your mic up close, or use a wireless mic, or plug directly into a sound system.

All the accessories you'll need

By the time you buy all the accessories you need for your camera, such as various microphones, tripod, batteries, chargers, wide angle lens, etc., you can easily spend $3,000. Then you will still want a lighting kit, which can cost hundreds more. Tripods deserve special mention. Video tripods must have a level bubble, so that you can pan the horizon if needed… a video tripod does not have a central post; if it has a central post, it’s a camera tripod, not for video. The smoothness of the pan is critical, especially for distant subjects; Libec brand is the industry standard.

You’ll also need a computer and the software to edit your film. Mac comes with I-Movie installed, but I-Movie is a not pro grade. To burn DVD's you need to download (from tucows.com, for example) a program such as Toast. If you are using a PC you could get a program such as Adobe Premiere Elements for as little as $200. "Elements" is the bare-bones version of the program that should be plenty for most novices. High-end editing suites such as Avid or VT Edit can cost thousands of dollars and require top-of-the-line computers. The exact type of camera and accessories you’ll need will depend on what you want to do. Get some expert advice.

Anticipating your costs

If you decide to hire a filmmaker, keep in mind that they have made a substantial investment of money and time to buy and learn how to use their equipment. It is reasonable for a professional filmmaker to bill their time at $150 an hour or more, and to also bill for machine time. Some professional shops estimate that a job will cost $1,000 per finished minute of film: 15 minutes = $15,000. Obviously, if you are paying this kind of money you can expect completely professional results, professional customer service, and a detailed contract before you begin; expect to pay a deposit, and to make partial payments at benchmarks along the way so the you are not expecting the film studio to expose themselves to the risk of non-payment on a major job. Fortunately, if you do not have the kind of major budget needed to hire a high-end studio, you can likely find an independent filmmaker who can do the job for less, perhaps because they have a lower overhead, for example by working out of their home instead of an office. If you are working with an independent filmmaker, read on.

A fully professional film requires an entire production crew

If you must have a professional film, it can not be produced by an individual. You will need to hire an entire crew; two or three cameras and camera-people, a director, an audio engineer, at minimum, perhaps a lighting specialist, other technicians, very likely all earning union wages. If you hire an individual, you can expect a high-quality end product, but you can't expect the kind of result you would from a crew.

Your finished product will be only as good as the footage you film. The more time you spend planning your production, the less time and money it will take to film, and in post-production. Spend as much time as you possibly can in planning, story-boarding, even shooting non-actors or stand-ins, so that you have a crystal-clear idea of what shots are needed. Scout your locations with your filmmaker, and an audio engineer, if at all possible. Visit your locations at the time of day you plan to shoot. You will need to know what the lighting and sound conditions are going to be when you arrive with your cast and crew. As with any complex project, the more precisely you can specify exactly the end-product you want, the more likely you are to get it, on time and on budget.

Shooting in the field and in the studio

Expect to pay somewhat more if your filmmaker has to haul all his equipment to a field location; it can take several people hours to pack up, move, set up, break down, and reset their equipment back in the studio. Shoot as many takes as you reasonably can, since it is nearly always more expensive or even impossible to return to re-shoot. Do not rely on the camera's view screen; bring along a larger monitor if at all possible. An otherwise perfect shoot can be ruined by a piece of lint or a stray hair that is impossible to see through the camera.

Should I film an event, or stage something for the camera?

In general, you will get much better results by staging something for the camera. In a live event, you aren't able to do second takes, impose on a paying audience by blocking sight-lines, hold up the event while you adjust the camera, lighting, sound system, etc. When the final product REALLY matters, you may need to review each shot on the monitor before you go on to the next.

Post-production
It is vital for you to scrutinize the raw footage immediately. You may discover some imperfection that may have passed unnoticed (people are their own worst critics!) Make sure there are no ‘deal breakers’ in the raw footage that make it unusable. If a reshoot is needed, best to know on the spot.

Editing video studio is a matter of micro-seconds. You may need to make a cut between words, before a blink, before your subject takes a breath, etc. You and / or your filmmaker should be taking extremely detailed notes on exactly what was shot and the time-codes. Good notes can mean hours of time and hundreds, even thousands of dollars saved in the editing studio. It can be extremely time-consuming and tedious if you or your editor has to watch and rewatch your video to find where the edits need to be made. During production be sure to take all the time you need. Pauses in speech are natural, pause between segments even if only for a second. If you make a mistake, say "Cut!" or “take two,” or simply back up and start over. In post-production you can edit out pauses, bloopers, etc. When you finish a segment, sit still for a moment as newscasters do, to allow time to "fade to black". (Don't look up right away and ask, "How was that?"). When you feel confident you’re done filming, sit for a moment to make sure you've got everything you could want.

Make sure your filmmaker has clear instructions about any titling and credits on the video. Make sure that they know how to spell people's names, and how people want their website address, etc. to appear. Go through the time and trouble to render your video and upload it to the web, that they Don't waste resources having your filmmaker redo a film because you failed to mention that so-and-so's credit should have said "Dr." instead of "Mr.", for example.

Lastly, you will want to have the film rendered into several formats, a high-resolution format for viewing on TV from a DVD, and a lower-resolution format for the web such as Flash .flv, Apple Quicktime .mov, or Windows .wmv.

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Psychical Physics : a scientific analysis of dowsing, book review

Psychical Physics : a scientific analysis of dowsing radiesthesia and kindred divining phenomena 

by Solco W. Tromp

Published by Elsevier, the renown and respected scientific publisher for more than 130 years. The author, Solco W. Tromp, was professor of Geology at Fouad 1 University, Cairo, Egypt, and founder of the International Society for Biometeorology. This is a 1949 study objectifying many aspects of dowsing, still the most systematic and thorough scientific appraisal of the subject. This is the book that I would write if it weren't already written! Takes each geophysical 'force' in turn, including 'emanations' (gasses), and takes each biological mechanism in turn, and examines the good evidence for geophysical forces affecting the human body. This book substantiates the core thesis of the Dan Shaw Vortex Field Guides, that "the human energy field is not separate from the planetary energy field." 534 pages. $ 4.95 Quality PDF of out-of-print copyright-expired edition with searchable text, viewable on your computer. Download link provided after purchase. No shipping charges. Print it out at home or take to a copy shop for printing and binding. Available from http://www.orgonelab.org/cart/xlifenergy.htm

 

A window in a flower

A window in a flower

Choose a blue name

Paint a window in a flower

Dance with men with antlers

Soak in the warm waters of love’s embrace

I went all the way to the coast

But it wasn’t far enough

And so I had to go further

I went to the forest

I brought home a rock, a flower

And a rusted old logger’s gas can

Hummingbirds come and go

The pond’s edge jumps with frogs everywhere

Wind-blown sand covers a swimsuit left at a beach

Copper elephants and white monkeys

Parade

Rich colors clutter clash resound

Lush texture layers invite

I play and walk in the collage of birdsong, flowers and acrylics

Art enchants

Key-shaman-picture

Art-love-voice

(c) 2012 Daniel Evan Shaw

Devil's Graveyard -- Alaska

12 "Devil's Graveyards" around the world form a geometric pattern. What are these devil's graveyards? Magnetic anomalies? What are vortexes? Is Alaska a Devil's Graveyard? I'm Dan Shaw, a researcher of vortexes, publisher of the EarthStar globe, co-author of the Vortex Field Guide. I was recently featured on Brad Meltzer's Decoded show on the History channel. I demonstrated the Golden Vortex device to Buddy and McKinley ("Mac"), and they were truly impressed. The camera operators also told me (and Brad Meltzer!) that they saw Buddy and McKinley apparent change height. This is not an optical illusion as we usually understand it, due to a slanted background, or to camera angle! See the Decoded episode now on youtube.
Season Two, Episode 13, Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9mrbxjvxAY&feature=related
Part 2, featuring the golden vortex device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmW65f6J8Nw&feature=related

Against the rotation of the globe (a poem by DanShaw.com)

Against the rotation of the globe
(a poem by DanShaw.com)

From the discomfort of my envious time-worn green couch I travel
vicariously from Vienna to Sulawesi by video
hiding behind the remote control and channel five
glimpsing life through the pin-hole
of the big screen
wishing for a one-way boarding pass
on a jetliner business class
overseas against the rotation of the globe.
Years pass cowarding about the paths
of a small town without a mountain or canyon
without a spectacular view.
Breathtaking vistas await aboard flight one-oh-five
from transatlantic terminal to anywhere
Familiar ruts reveal the pale shadow longing casts over courage.
What serpent offers what apple to eject this naive man from dismal desert
to lion's den
What strange sun rises over unknown horizons
What unsure sands will support the foot
What travails can be side-stepped between dusk and dark?
How much plainness and porridge can be endured
before irksome comfort is thrown from the brink
to venture past armed border guards
to venture where not even breakfast speaks my language
where rock and flint and chalk could not be more foreign
where every number needs translation
nothing can be expected.
Discontent seethes beneath the TV guide.

Golden-Vortex.com now live online

The Golden Vortex device, invented by Nick Nelson, featured on Decoded on the History channel, now available at http://golden-vortex.com/

Golden Vortex on History channel

Dan Shaw just on Brad Meltzer's Decoded on History channel with Golden Vortex shrink and grow. contact inventor Nick Nelson: vortexfinder@centurytel.net. 7620 Hwy 2 E,  Columbia Falls, MT 59912. $33 includes shipping.