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October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

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                       A traditional Pastafarian meal was prepared and consumed.

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Posted at 07:57 PM in Cooking, Daughter, family, Pastafarianism, Photographs, The Frothling | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Halloween Spirits? Sorry, No

GhostI know its Halloween, but I get sick and tired of these credulous reporters giving valuable space to deluded "believers."

Everyone likes a good ghost story this time of year, but not many of us have actually lived one. Then there is Randy Myers, who not only claims to regularly see spirits but believes he has recorded and photographed them.

Well, looks like we're in for a rough ride into the realm of woo.  Buckle up!

After a recent ghost-hunting trip to Quaker Cemetery in Perryopolis, while members in matching black baseball caps munched burgers at a Uniontown McDonald's, they learned that an abandoned house just beyond the restaurant's parking lot was rumored to be a hotbed of supernatural activity. Night-shift employees had heard unexplained voices on the drive-through intercom, and when a medium visited, she reported seven evil spirits, says Josh Shelton, who has been with the group since 2009 and is the unofficial field organizer.

Unexplained voices on the drive through intercom?  Here's an explanation for you:  Radio interference from other sources like walkie-talkies, CB radios, broadcast communications, and other sources of radio interference.  A medium?  A medium what?  A medium soda pop?  A medium coffee?  Or one of those frauds that goes around pretending they can talk with dead people to separate gullible fools from their money?  I wouldn't put much stock into what a "medium" says, especially if it cannot be independently confirmed.

Damaged by fire and left to rot in a jungle of knee-high weeds and poison ivy, the two-story clapboard Colonial certainly screams "haunted house," especially at dusk, when the group convened in its side yard with a reporter and photographer. Besides evil spirits, the house is a rumored hideout for drunks, crack addicts and bums, says Mr. Shelton. That explains why, in addition to flashlights, batteries and walkie-talkies, Mr. Myers and fellow ghosthunter Fred Broerman came armed with paintball guns.

"A rumored hideout for drunks, crack addicts and bums."  Well then, I think we just found the source of the things that might be going bump in the night.  I also have to wonder who in their right mind thinks that a freaking PAINT BALL GUN is sufficient deterrent to a potentially armed and dangerous person who might be inside an abandoned building???  And why go in at night?  Wouldn't it make more sense to go in during daylight when it might be easier to determine if the noise you're hearing is caused by something perfectly normal, like the wind blowing through a broken window, or a drunk, crack addict or bum squatting in the structure?

The most commonly reported paranormal experiences are the sounds of voices and that eerie, unsettling feeling of being watched. So the group brings tape recorders and digital cameras that sometimes capture a ball of light known as an "orb," shadowy figures and unexplained blurs. Among the questions thrown out in the darkness in hopes of a ghostly answer are: What's your name? How old are you? How did you die? How can we help you? ... When is the apocalypse?

The sounds of voices and the feeling of being watched."  My guess is those voices might just be from the "drunks, crack addicts and bums."  They're probably watching too, or its more likely just your overactive imagination going into overdrive while wandering around an abandoned house in the dark.  As for "orbs," they're just the reflection of the flash off dust or water vapor.  Shadows and smudges are likely artifacts caused by flash reflection of glass, insects, your own breath (if its a chilly night) and other photographic anomolies caused by using a camera in a dark house at night.  As for shouting out random questions to the nothingness, make sure you see a qualified mental health professional if you get an answer.  Then again, it might just be me hiding in the basement messing with you.

Finding evidence of ghosts requires more specialized equipment, too, including night-vision goggles and heat guns to detect changes in temperature (it will suddenly get colder when a ghost is nearby).

Of course, if you went looking in the daytime, you wouldn't NEED night-vision goggles.  And you know what else makes something feel suddenly cooler?  A draft.  But back to the night vision goggles, which  work by detecting infrared (heat) radiation.  If it gets cooler when a "ghost" is about, what good are the goggles, which detect a body's heat?  They might be good for detecting that family of raccoons living in the crawl space though.

East Hills Paranormal also uses EMF meters, which measure fluctuations in electromagnetic fields. If the meters trip near plugs and fixtures, you know you've got a live one, technically speaking, especially if it happens in a house like this one, which hasn't been connected to Allegheny Power for years.

EMF meters detect fluctuations in electromagnetic fields. Yes, you'll see a fluctuation around power sources.  They also indicate electromagnetic fluctuations from power lines, microwave radiation, cell phones, radios, door bells, etc.  There's quite a bit of electromagnetic activity out there, a wiggle of the needle is indicative of nothing. Why would a spiritual manifestation emit an electromagnetic field anyway? 

 All of the gathered information will be taken home and carefully analyzed over the next week.

Not really, its more likely to be subjected to confirmation bias.

After an anxious five minutes to determine that the Uniontown house is indeed empty, as least of other people, members with flashlights and strap-on headlamps head up the broken staircase one spongy, damp step at a time. The smell of mold, urine and musty plaster permeates the air, and there's so much debris on the floor, the group has to tiptoe around the room. Then whosh! A bat flies out of the rafters, setting everyone atwitter.

The group seems even more unnerved by an inverted pentagram scrawled on a bedroom wall, along with references to Anton LaVey, an occultist who founded the Church of Satan in 1966.

"Obviously, someone worships the devil here," says Mr. Broerman, noting that such activity can bring out demons (evil) rather than spirits (lost souls).

Or its a bunch of teenagers goofing around in a "haunted" house.  What proof does Broerman have that demons or spirits even exist?

For the next 45 minutes, they wander from room to room, taking pictures, hollering questions, feeling for cold spots and shining their lights into closets and corners. The last time Chad Opfer was in the house, he says he saw an apparition in a doorway -- a full body with a "red glare." He's really, really hoping for a replay.

Hmmm...could that red glare come from the tail lights or brake lights of a passing car, or the lighted McDonalds sign refracting through a window at night?  See "pareidolia."

"Can you make yourself appear again?" he calls out at one point. "Use my energy!

"Just don't make me sick," he adds, noting how spirits sometimes can give you headaches or flu-like symptoms.

Earlier in the story we learned that the house smelled of mold, urine, musty plaster, and was infested with bats.  I suspect Opfer's symptoms might have been caused by the unsanitary conditions common to abandoned buildings, especially ones frequented by drunks, crack addicts, bums, and guano.

They also sometimes follow you home, which is why Mr. Shelton always offers a cleansing prayer before the group leaves a property. Later, they play and replay the tapes to see if they've managed to catch any electronic voice phenomenon, or ghost voices that you can't hear until you play back a recording, Mr. Myers says.

They find no voices on the Uniontown tapes, but the group takes back to Pitcairn several photos of ghostly orbs, proof positive, they say, of life after death.

Proof positive of dust, actually.  And if you DO have any evidence of ghosts, James Randi has one million dollars for you.

Can a newspaper once, just once, interview a skeptic before they print this kind of drivel?

Posted at 05:25 PM in ghost hunting, ghosts, Oddness, paranormal, psychics, skeptic, Things that drive me nuts, woo | | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

That's A Wrap!

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While I appreciate the Port Authority generating revenue through advertising on their busses, the theme of Pabst Blue Ribbon cans covering every inch of the vehicle is pretty ugly. 

Posted at 05:51 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Sandy

The stories of destruction along the east coast are pretty bad, but it looks like we avoided the huge loss of life that occurred in New Orleans a few years ago.  Still, 13 dead in the US and another 68 in the Caribbean is tragic. We were pretty lucky here in southwestern Pennsylvania, just some steady rain, and the wind gusts weren't terribly strong, compared to other locations in the storm's path. 

I was amused to see my sleepy little college town, Elkins, WV featured in a number of news reports, I doubt few across the nation have ever heard of Elkins before last night.  They, along with much of the Appalachian spine, got socked with quite a bit of snow.  Temperatures there are expected to climb into the 50's next week, so all that snow is going to melt pretty quickly and come flowing past my house, so we're not out of the woods locally!

I could do some blogging about the political effect the storm will have, but right now, I think its more important to leave the politics out of this, and concentrate on the people who need help now.

You and I can help by clicking this link.

Death toll now up to 50.  Might be adjusted upward some more.

 

Posted at 05:20 PM in weather | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Monday, October 29, 2012

Frankenstorm

It looks like we are going to be on the fringe of Sandy here in western Pennsylvania, but the weather forecasters are still predicting a lot of rain and very windy conditions for the next couple of days.  Hopefully, the storm will be more hype than substance, but I fear the east coast is in for some serious problems, and I suspect we're going to be seeing more storms of this severity in the future. That beach front property I've been eyeing for years is looking a lot less attractive.   Batten down the hatches!

Posted at 04:49 PM in Nature, weather | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Like A Hurricane

Seems appropriate for today.

Posted at 04:47 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Endorsement

California's Sacramento Bee has endorsed President Obama for reelection.  Papers endorse candidates for a variety of reasons, but the Bee's editorial clearly lays out the President's accomplishments, while highlighting the Republican party's near treasonous obstructionism and Romney's habitiual lying.

Obama not only inherited wars, he inherited a mortgage meltdown and the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. He had to act quickly to prevent two automakers from going bankrupt and forestall a larger Wall Street catastrophe, and he did.

While some critics on the left say he should have gone further, by breaking up banks and launching an ambitious New Deal-style jobs program, it should be remembered that even Obama's modest "stimulus" package was fought tooth and nail by Republicans in Congress. As has been well documented, the Republican strategy was to block all of the president's efforts at economic recovery, even if it kept unemployment high for an extended period. As a coldblooded political strategy, it has worked, and millions of Americans have paid the price.

The last four years are instructive, but the next four years could well determine whether the United State repowers its economic engine and rebuilds its middle class, or whether it lapses back to the unequal and deficit-created policies of the Bush era. Although his positions seem to change on a weekly basis, Obama's challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, clearly would pursue tax cuts for the rich, on the discredited theory the wealthy would invest their savings in U.S. jobs. These "trickle down" theories haven't worked before and won't work now. Romney has also pledged to repeal health care reform, a transfer of wealth away from people who would receive subsidies to businesses and the wealthy who would be taxed under Obama-care...

Obama – unruffled by Looney Tunes claims that he is a "socialist" and a "Marxist" – has pursued a consistent, moderate path that has pulled this country back from the brink and put it on a path toward recovery. In a second term, with just a little help from Congress, he could finish the job and pursue other priorities, including upgrading transportation infrastructure, reinvesting in higher education and making the United States a leader in clean energy technologies.

By contrast, Romney has been all over the map on climate change, health care reform and fiscal policy, and he seems determined to lead us into a costly war in Iran, regardless of the consequences.

We've seen this script before. We don't want it again.

The entire thing is worth a read.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/14/4907756/barack-obama-for-president.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/14/4907756/barack-obama-for-president.html#storylink=cpy

Posted at 04:45 PM in Current Affairs, Politics, President Obama, Romney | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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Happy Little Trees

The Google machine tells me that today would have been Bob Ross' 70th birthday.  I recall one memorable episode where Bob stopped painting for a moment, looked at the camera, and announced "I have a squirrel in my pants." I have happyBross memories of happy little trees, but I doubt a show like The Joy of Painting could make it onto TV today, and that is a shame.

Posted at 04:43 PM in media, Television | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Life In The Bureaucracy

Normally, I do not blog about work.  However my employer is conducting a health care audit.  Not that big of a deal.  I got a letter from the outside firm conducting the audit asking me to confirm if my wife and daughter were on my policy.  If they were, I needed to do nothing more, so I of course, did nothing.

Then I got another letter demanding that I provide proof to the auditor that I am indeed married to my wife, and that I do indeed have a daughter.  I must provide a copy of my marriage certificate, a copy of my daughter's birth certificate, and a copy of my 2011 federal tax return to them.  If I don't comply with this demand, then my wife and daughter will lose coverage.

Now I have no problem with my employer making sure that the people they're covering are in fact, eligible for coverage, BUT when I got married, I had to provide a copy of my marriage certificate to have my wife added to the policy.  When my child was born, I had to provide a copy of her birth certificate to the human resources department to have her added to the policy as well.

My employer already HAS this information, but they've gone and spent money on an outside firm to go and collect this information again.  I cannot imagine that they're going to find too many people, if any, receiving coverage illicitly.  My guess is that they're spending more money than they'll potentially save chasing phantoms.

Posted at 04:33 PM in Things that drive me nuts | | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Seriously....

Why do I bother arguing with wingnuts?  Facebook transcript follows: Probably TL;Dr

For crying out loud... and people say we Republicans are the ones messing with the election!  What a crock of donkey doo...
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  • Mike McQuain likes this.
  • Mike McQuain Thank God at least some people in Virgina care more about US law than our own prez seems to...
    http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/dem-caught-in-video-sting-now-probed-by-virginia-ag/
    www.wnd.com
    A Free Press For A Free People Since 1997
  • Tyrone A. Steele Obama knows he had no authority to override state constitution.   This should be entertaining.
  • Jay Tee No, they're covered by the same treaty laws that give immunity from prosecution to our diplomatic and UN sanctioned missions.  Violating that reciprocity would not be a good idea.
  • Tyrone A. Steele State constitutions override US treaties if enacted.  That is how they remain sovereign.
  • Jay Tee The Supreme Court disagrees.  See Missouri v. Holland.
  • Tyrone A. Steele We shall see.
  • Jay Tee Its settled law.
  • Mike McQuain Observers should be here to do just that... OBSERVE and not Obstruct... if they interfere then they should face consequences.  If we were in some other country and overstepped the line between watching and getting in the way then you can bet the other country would be screaming.
  • Mike McQuain @Jay - nobody said the courts were perfect.  Yes, we need to have laws governing what diplomats and outside observers can and can't do... and then they need to play by the rules.  So if the rules really say that outsiders can come in and do more than observe our elections then we need to get those rules changed.  I'm happy to let 'em watch, just don't mess with the process!
  • Tyrone A. Steele Im sorry.  The UN has zero authority over the states.  I don't give a crap what anyone says and neither does the TX AG.  The constitution of the US and TX constituion are what make a state sovereign.  Give that away to the UN and we are doomed.
    The TX gov is right and people with intestinal fortitude will stand with him on it.
  • Jay Tee You are entitled to your opinions but you are wrong.  This is settled law. Continuing to state otherwise does not change the legal facts.
  • Mike McQuain OK, so it's "settled law"... if that law says that outsider observers can legally do more than just observe (e.g., if they can obstruct) then we need to change that law plain and simple as it is not in the best interest of the USA.
  • Tyrone A. Steele Jay, are you for the UN being here or what? I'm confused.
    Texas is in the right. You will see. Obama only has bark here, no bite. Texas state law is based off of the laws that ran them as a republic. Texans are not opposed to making it that way again, I can assure you.
    He is making a huge political miscalculation by stating that the feds somehow have authority over texas state constitution.
  • Mike McQuain Jay please explain how the case you cited applies here.  I read it as "In a 7-to-2 decision, the Court held that the national interest in protecting the wildlife could be protected only by national action. The Court noted that the birds the government ...See More
  • Alan Coberly This sounds to me of a way to win the election if you lose. They are looking for "conservative" intimidation. What about the Black Panthers, and other groups like them. Free pass? It would be nice if you lose then the UN say the elections weren't right...See More
  • Mike McQuain I just posted in a friend's thread where she is worried about this:  http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/romney_ohio/index_2012.html?utm_expid=16130742-25&rc=fb_share1&r_by=-6452457-35U5DLx

    I replied...
    So you are more concerned with a "what if" rathe...See More
    act.credoaction.com
    If the presidential election comes down to Ohio, the deciding votes could be cas...
    t on voting machines manufactured by a company with deep financial ties to the Romney family. Tell the Department of Justice not to let Republicans steal the election in Ohio with voting machines tied to the Romneys.
    See More
  • Mike McQuain Here's another real world here and now story that we should be worried about (vs. worried about a hypothetical in the story above)...
    http://news.yahoo.com/absentee-ballots-may-destroyed-crash-210240583--election.html
    news.yahoo.com
    Federal officials say that absentee ballots being sent to U.S. military serving in Afghanistan may have been burned in a plane crash.
  • Alan Coberly Let's look at where they folks are coming from. The observers, from countries such as Germany, France, Serbia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, will observe voting at polling places and other political activity. Kazakhstan? Really, yep there is a true pure vote country.
  • Jay Tee We are talking about treaty obligations.  This is settled law.  Texas cannot pass a law that is contrary to federal law. Period.
  • Mike McQuain So does the treaty on MONITORING elections allow them to interfere without any recourse against them if they do?  If so that is one treaty that I hope Romney reconsiders!
  • Tyrone A. Steele I don't think that has anything to do with the Federal Government's ability to override a state constitution.
    Good work, Mike. I was too lazy to look. I just know my constitution well enough to know that a state is sovereign and has only "agreed" to be part of the union. It can withdraw if it feels the feds are pushing too hard.
    And TX would be the first to say, Screw Off.
  • Tyrone A. Steele The destroyed ballots were going out TO the troops, not coming back from them, which is a plus, but I still smell a rat.
  • Jay Tee In what fantasy world are the observers interfering with the election? And yes, federal law trumps state constiutuitions, we fought a war over this and your position LOST.  Get over it.
  • Mike McQuain Nobody said they were interfering since the election hasn't finished yet.  What Texas did was WARN them not to interfere... but Obama basically said "you can ignore that warning", which is the whole point of this post - to show how Obama thinks he is a...See More
  • Jay Tee Well that's like arguing "you better not punch me in the face" when no one has suggested punching you in the face.  The point is that by treaty, observers are immune from prosecution, rendering Texas' threat moot.  In fact, by making the threat, Texas' AG may be in violation of both US and international law.
  • Mike McQuain I have no problem telling someone that if you punch me then there will be consequences.  Society does it all the time (ever see those signs that say Speeding Fines Doubled When Workers Present?  I see them BEFORE I am speeding).  But back to my point that America should NOT sign on to treaties that trump American law and the Constitution.  Hopefully, we will see the error of such ways and get out of those treaties!
  • Jay Tee But you cannot.  That's the point.  The Court has ruled that these treaties ARE Constitutional, therefore, they ARE, and Texas is wrong.  Your opinion is irrelevent before the law. It can be argued that by opposing the rule of law, you are engaging in treason, although that is an extreme interpretation.
  • Mike McQuain You are misunderstanding what I am saying... the US CAN (and should) negotiate treaties that are in the best interest of America!  I don't think this treaty is so I say we renegotiate it or at least pull out of it (we pull out of arms treaties, etc. al...See More
  • Jay Tee Amending or getting out of a treaty requires the iniative of the Executive branch with consent of the Senate.  A state cannot do this unilaterally.
  • MORE:
Mike McQuain My point exactly... the executive branch (currently Obama) should be looking out for the best interest of the USA (Texas included) and it is not in the USA's best interest to say that it is OK should an outsider possibly interfere with the USA's electo...See More
  • Jay Tee And these treaties were signed long before Obama was president. And you have no evidence whatsoever that UN observers will hinder the election, but you engage in "what ifs?"
  • Mike McQuain I never said Obama signed the treaties, but he is doing nothing to fix a POTENTIALLY bad situation.  The idea behind "what ifs" is to see a potential treat and deal with it BEFORE it actually happens... its a little something called planning for the future... something that good leadership does.... but we've already said Obama is NOT good leadership so I can't say that I am surprised by any of this. :(:(
  • Tyrone A. Steele I disagree with your assessment, Jay, that some law has been settled. I see no evidence of such a wide-lane statement being true. Regarding a treaty, the Constitution allows a ratified treaty to trump the federal constitution. The States have their own...See More
  • Jay Tee Tyron, please see Missouri V Holland, as cited above.  Mike, you are frantically spinning to defend an untenable position.  The Court has ruled on this, the only thing a president could do would be to support a constitutional amendment, which stands no chance of ratification, and would be a internationally disaterous position in any case.
  • Mike McQuain I think Ty is basically saying some of the same thing I am... Obama is NOT working in the best interest of the USA and he is a bad leader.
  • Jay Tee That is your opinion, but it has nothing to do with the Constitution and the law.
  • Mike McQuain Jay we (as usual in politics) will just have to agree to disagree... should a situation really happen then we will see how it plays out in court I guess.  As for my opinion of Obama, yep, I think he is the worst president in US history and I can't wait...See More
  • Jay Tee Well Mike, this HAS played out in court, and my position won.  Your opinion on the issue and on Obama is irrelevent.
  • Mike McQuain You don't really think that one court case is all that will ever be tried on these subjects do you?  Just look at how many challenges their are to Obamacare (to use a recent example)... the Supreme Court ruled the individual mandate could stand since i...See More
  • Jay Tee Once the Supreme Court rules on it, it is settled.  The only way to undo that is through a Constitutional amendment. Now, are you willing to take a position contrary to the Constitution?
  • Mike McQuain Once the Supreme Court rules on something then THAT SPECIFIC issue is settled, pending an amendment.  Doesn't mean you can't readdress a different issue or variation of the original issue that wasn't specifically addressed in the first ruling.  So what...See More
  • Jay Tee Wow...you are splitting some serious rhetorical hairs!
  • Jay Tee Seriously Mike, keep grasping at those straws!
  • Mike McQuain Grasping at what straws... I'm talking about simple Law 101.  Oh well, we disagree... I'm hungry... gonna' go eat.
  • Jay Tee You've gone from an incredibly broad attack on UN observers, based on nothing but speculation, to a demand that I prove all rhetorical pathways on totally unrelated topics.  Go eat, and your grasp of law 101 is seriously flawed.
  • Jay Tee Right back atcha

Posted at 09:05 PM | | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

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