Piano in G-Flat Major

Just won’t burn

While I Was Polishing My Guitar

Avi Loeb is no stranger to controversy. The prolific Harvard University astrophysicist has produced pioneering and provocative research on black holes, gamma-ray bursts, the early universe and other standard topics of his field. But for more than a decade he has also courted a more contentious subject—namely, space aliens, including how to find them. Until relatively recently, Loeb’s most high-profile work in that regard was his involvement with Breakthrough Starshot, a project funded by Silicon Valley billionaire Yuri Milner to send laser-boosted, gossamer-thin mirrorlike spacecraft called “light sails” on high-speed voyages to nearby stars. All that began to change in late 2017, however, when astronomers around the world scrambled to study an enigmatic interstellar visitor—the first ever seen—that briefly came within range of their telescopes.

The object’s discoverers dubbed it ‘Oumuamua—a Hawaiian term that roughly translates to “scout.” The unavoidably cursory examinations of this celestial passerby showed it had several properties that defied easy natural explanation. ‘Oumuamua’s apparent shape—which was like a 100-meter-long cigar or pancake—did not closely resemble any known asteroid or comet. Neither did its brightness, which revealed ‘Oumuamua was at least 10 times more reflective than one of our solar system’s typical space rocks—shiny enough to suggest the gleam of burnished metal. Most strangely, as it zoomed off after swooping by the sun, the object sped up faster than could be explained by our star’s waning gravitational grip alone. Run-of-the-mill comets can exhibit similar accelerations because of the rocketlike effect of evaporating gases jetting from their sunlight-warmed icy surfaces. But no signs of such jets were seen around ‘Oumuamua.

To Loeb, the most plausible explanation was as obvious as it was sensational: taken together with its possibly pancakelike shape and high reflectivity, ‘Oumuamua’s anomalous acceleration made perfect sense if the object was in fact a light sail—perhaps a derelict from some long-expired galactic culture. Primed by years spent pondering how we might someday find evidence of cosmic civilizations in the sky’s depths, he became increasingly convinced that, with ‘Oumuamua, the evidence had instead found us. In late 2018 Loeb and his co-author Shmuel Bialy, a Harvard postdoctoral fellow, published a paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters arguing that ‘Oumuamua had been nothing less than humanity’s first contact with an artifact of extraterrestrial intelligence.

The paper has been a smash hit with journalists but has fallen flat with most of Loeb’s astrobiology-focused peers, who insist that, while strange, ‘Oumuamua’s properties still place it well within the realm of natural phenomena. To claim otherwise, Loeb’s critics say, is cavalier at best and destructive at worst for the long struggle to remove the stigma of credulous UFO and alien-abduction reports from what should unquestionably be a legitimate field of scientific inquiry.

The observations suggest this unusual object had been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system.

“For decades we’ve theorized that such interstellar objects are out there, and now―for the first time―we have direct evidence they exist,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in November 2017.

Immediately after its discovery, telescopes around the world, including ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, were called into action to measure the object’s orbit, brightness and color. Urgency for viewing from ground-based telescopes was vital to get the best data.

Oumuamua (First Contact Album Version)

Come and drink the Amaro Cacao with us.  The complete album in one single track.  This is the recommended experience, enjoy -- and thanks for visiting this part of our mind -- through listening... you're most welcome.
https://youtu.be/20WSrXE7xwI

Amaro Cacao:
1. October 21st, 1940 (2:36)
2. Three A.M. Lounge Intro (0:57)
3. Foray Into Genre, Inc. (9:37)
4. Amaro's Theme, Pt. 1 (0:20)
5. Experience (6:19)
6. T.B.T.V.B.B.S.M.E (2:53)
7. Amaro's Theme, Pt 2 (0:16)
8. Both Men Knew They Were Cacti (2:24)
9. Liandam (5:05)
10. The Dream of the Purple Maiden (8:52)
11. Esme Veronique, Verna, and Fito, the Scotland Yard Freshman (5:26)
12. Terrace Days (A Kind of Outro) (0:41)
13 T.B.T.V.B.B.S.M.E (Reprise) (5:44)

Amaro Cacao [FULL ALBUM]

I do not want more
Fake friendships
What you give me
No longer funny

Rich solitude
I don't want your kisses
Only the truth
Lying eyes

Cotton rich
Hugs trash
Love scams
Fake hearts

Of the tongue
Of the soul
From the bottom
Give Your Heart
From the shadows
What's in you

Of the life
What has he given me
I don't want your farce anymore
I sweat it forever
And for you


Lalalala (x4)

Amistades Falsas

Papa Don't Sleep

Recorded May 2025. Performed on a #Yamaha NU1X hybrid digital upright piano. Rendered using #PianoTeq by #Modartt. Mastered using #LogicPro 11.

Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846

Piano  M 7993 3:02 20-09-2025

Flux

All instruments and programming Steve Matthews


Orca

I’m a song-writer who enjoys creating music of any genre.

My son recently introduced me to A.I. and taught me how to do covers of my previously released non-A.I. music. Since I've never considered myself a performer (except playing with worship bands at church or solo-piano at a rehab center) using A.I. is right up my alley.

Since I've  exhausted using my previously released music for A.I. covers, I now compose music in a DAW, rip to a wave file, and make an A.I. cover of this wave file. I then write lyrics to the A.I. music. It takes around 100 A.I. iterations to complete the lyrics and get a style I'm happy with.  

Brief Bio: Lived more than a quarter of my life overseas (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan). Each country gave me an appreciation for different types of music plus probably why I get bored easily in sticking with one genre or another.

Piano in G-Flat Major

Mike Krath