The Ark and The Dove

More from the Unhealthy Curiosity Department

Isabel and I were watching the recent new episode of Ghost Hunters where they claim to make contact with the ghost of a woman at the Buffalo train station using their K2 meter.
I don't really know what K2 meters are supposed to detect, but the Ghost Hunters claim that it will light up when a spirit tries to "touch" it. In the episode, it appears to light up on command when they start asking questions to "anyone in the room." They have a relatively lengthy conversation with the spirit, but they can only ask it yes or no questions given the way the machine works.
The first, technological problem, is that I don't see how they know the machine isn't just picking up whatever it is meant to pick up. That is, how do they know there isn't interference.
Second, even if the Ghost Hunters are sincere in their efforts, it seems like it would be easy enough for the Sci fi Channel cameraman to have some device that he activates so the Ghost Hunters think they are getting a read.
The final problem I want to point out, and its what makes me the most skeptical about the show, is that if they really thought that they had made such intimate contact, why would they ever leave the scene? And why wouldn't they ask better questions? And why wouldn't they create some kind of giant K2 meter keyboard that would let the ghosts type out their answers?

You (down the) Tubes

Here's just a quick rant about YouTube.
I liked YouTube for the most part. Viral videos can be fun for the most part, and let you feel connected to some kind of elite underground of Internet subculture.
But, lately, YouTube is beginning to break my heart a little.

The first problem: uncensored thumbnails. Whether or not the videos actually contain pornographic material, a lot of YouTubers are fond of making sure that the thumbnail advertising their video clip is. In many cases, the thumbnail is merely provocative...as if "merely provocative" wasn't bad enough. But every now and then you run into a video that contains graphic images. Youtube is supposed to have safeguards so that kids can't actually watch explicit videos, but there doesn't seem to be anything preventing them from seeing X-rated still frames frozen in the thumbnail. This is a problem YouTube needs to address.

The second problem: comments. This is a universal problem for the Internet, but even the most wholesome video often ends up being the host for a series of ignorant, hateful, an perverse comments.

The third problem (and this one is a doozy): perpetuation of hate videos. YouTube is supposed to investigate videos that are "flagged" by users as inappropriate, and sometimes this system works. Often, it seems not to...or to take too long to be effective. Even once a video is removed, it can just pop up in a different account, or it can just spread on another video hosting site. In the last two weeks, I have come across posts regarding Islamic terrorist videos and, even more terrifying, a whole channel dedicated to videos of some kid desecrating the Eucharist in a series of puerile and obnoxious ways.

I kind of feel like the rise of Internet is becoming a bit like the discovery of the New World or perhaps the Fall from Eden. Every time humanity has a fresh, clean world to explore with seemingly limitless potential and opportunity...he reduces it to rubble in a matter of years through greed, selfishness, and lust. You would think by now we would have learned our lesson. (This pattern certainly doesn't bode way for space exploration...)

New Favorite Website

Star Wars themed.
Politically conservative.
Funny.
No, it's not my latest online venture...it's
The Jawa Report!
The crack squad of cyber-journalist commandos at The Jawa Report have just released a really phenomenal blog entry revealing evidence that so-called grassroots videos attacking Palin are actually from a corporation with ties to Obama's campaign.
It's a rather lengthy read, but it's a real eye-opener. As the argument goes, a PR company generated Youtube accounts (with really obvious names, if it's true) in an effort to make its "independent" anti-Palin ads go viral, then delete the accounts in an effort to cover their tracks...

Unhealthy Curiosity

Isabel and I get way too into Ghosthunters, the "reality" paranormal show on the Sci-fi channel.
Neither of us had cable, so we usually end up watching episodes strung together by Youtubers, and we also usually end up giving ourselves a bad case of the jeeblies (spelling?) afterwards.

Since I don't believe in ghosts, it's not as if I'm spooked about the undead pestering me in my sleep (although I do very much hate the undead). However, as a Catholic, I do believe that diabolic forces can do weird things. Anyway, all this is to clear the way for a skeptical question about ghosthunting.

These people like to tout the "scientific" evidence created by E.V.P. (electronic voice phenomenon). That is, people will wander through an empty building and ask spirits to speak into a microphone. Voices that were not heard during the investigation are sometimes heard when reviewing their recordings. First of all, this seems pretty much like playing with an ouija board sans the board, so I'm pretty sure it's of dubious moral practice. Secondly, the voices almost never sound clear, so people just kind of make-up what they think the voice is saying (which is always something creepy). Thirdly, with all of this wireless/cordless/radio technology (not to mention loud car radios passing by or neighbors' TVs), it seems a really specious method of operations. Who knows what your cheap microphone is picking up? Fourthly, you have to completely take the "investigators" on their honor that they didn't edit or modify the recording...and that no one simply spoke into the microphone. Fifthly (am I up to fifthly...I lost count), why would spirits almost always seem to WHISPER into the microphone? If a ghost were projecting their voice onto a recording, why wouldn't they project it as if they were speaking normally? Whispering is easier than speaking if you have a body because you are trying to push air through your throat and mouth. But why would whispering be easier for someone who didn't have a body? It would be more plausible to me if the voices were simply at a lower volume, as if they were further away, not as if a ghost were murmering into the mic.

Finally, and here's the real stumper, how come we never see paranormal investigators encountering a haunting situation during a prelimary tour or while they are setting up or taking down equipment? Whenever the investigators are record something, it always seems to be when they are looking for it. These ghosts seem awfully polite to let these people set up their equipment or leave without the least bit of bother. For that matter, you almost never see the professional camera crew have any kind of experience. You would think ghosts could start thinking outside the box once in a while? I mean, what else do they have to do all day except for find ways of scaring people...

Veloci-Rapture

This is a sincere question, and hopefully any Protestants who happen to the blog will be willing to answer this:
How do those who believe in the Rapture know that it didn't already happen?
How do they know we all aren't already those folks who were left behind?

Election Year: The Epic Movie

My brother-in-law sent me a link to the CatholicVote video.

Pope vs. Obama...FIGHT!

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, let me say that I don't think Obama is really the Antichrist.

That being said, I can't help but think that Drudge is having fun with this layout in the screencapture.

He had to know what he was doing when he posted this giant, terrifying looking mural of Obama's face leering down on his workers like Big Brother as Benedict valiantly wields the Blessed Sacrament against him in the neighboring image. Even the article captions seem to be playing with the juxtaposed photos. "Obama supporters ready for fight" is contrasted with "Pope hails love 'stronger than evil.'"

And on the topic of conspiracy theories...does anyone else think it's just a little peculiar that my post with all of the Obama videos caused the blog to have a freakout? Albert eventually had to take the post down. I wonder...

Obama's Catholic School Education

via Israel Nation News...

Obama has written in his autobiography, "In the Catholic school when it came time to pray, I would close my eyes, then peek around the room. Nothing happened. No angels descended. Just a parched old nun and 30 brown children, muttering words."

 

As a first-grader in the Catholic school, Obama prayed as a Catholic, but was registered as a Muslim since that was his father's faith.

Does Scientology "Coerce" Abortions?

See, I put the word "coerce" in quotes and end with a question to avoid unsettling lawsuits or harassment from deranged Scientologists.

Anyway, there's a bunch of sites out there reporting that Scientologists might be exerting significant pressure for their Sea Org members to have abortions.

Like here, and here, and here as well as here.

You would think that after the Protestant Reformation, Western Civilization would have seen the end of money-making religious schemes.

Sigh...

via BBSpot...

How to irritate English Majors.

It's funny 'coz it's true.