Is It Real? Ghosts

One of my new favorite shows on TV is National Geographic Channel's Is It Real? I have written on it before. The show picks a topic (UFOs, Bigfoot, Lake Monsters) and they analyze the evidence for and against the phenomena, and often ends with the show asking you to do the same and draw your conclusions. Sometimes they flat out state that the topic is bullshit.

The other day, the topic was ghosts. The program destroyed all the photographic evidence for ghosts. "Ghost orbs" are particles of dust, ghost mist is water vapor in your breath lit up in the flash, double exposures explain many mysterious images, and pareidolia the rest.

The most humorous moment occurred when the expert brought in to explore a haunted house discussed his warm-up methods in preparing to commune with the dead. The gentleman discussed his meditation to prepare to feel the vibrations of the ghosts, mentally preparing himself, and "I've got my coffee." Coffee? This is the great secret to sensing and communing with ghosts, coffee? After exploring the outer grounds of the house, he made sure to have a second cup of coffee before entering.

This is a new technique! Bad photos, electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), electronic voice phenomena (EVP), all this I'm unfortunately familiar with. But now I find out that I should see ghosts on a regular basis, since I do imbibe in the coffee often enough.

Coffee, the drug of choice for loons and believers.

The picture is apparently some spirit vapor (or ectoplasm) rising from the graves in Salem, Massachusetts. I've got a great photo just like this from Leavenworth, WA on a night that was below freezing. Funny, but I never even thought it was ectoplasm. Hmmm.

Ann Coulter Donny Deutsch Jews Perfected The Big Idea

Ann Coulter: Anti-Semite

I would write more, but I feel her words speak for herself. Of particular note, she says that Jews need to be "perfected" into Christians, and when asked if that is what she really means, she confirms it. Listening to this is shocking. Dogmatic, to say the least.

The View on evolution and a flat Earth

You're kidding me, right? You are one of the new hosts on a show watched by millions, many of whom blindly follow things you people say, and not only do you feel that evolution is wrong, but you're not sure if the Earth is flat or not?
Please, someone give this girl some brains! I understand that "The View" wanted to add another conservative Christian voice, but this will not help their cause. (Which is fine by me.) The Earth is round! Look at a picture from the space missions! And if your response to that is that we never went to the moon, my head might explode.

Tribute to Kent Hovind - What a fucktard

Enjoy jail, "Dr. Dino." For your own case you better be right about heaven, cause your life term in jail is all you get otherwise.

For info on this morons ideas, read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_hovind#Creationism

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism

Hangar 18 vs. Is It Real: UFOs

Ahh, remember those days back when the History Channel showed history and it's programming had some basis in fact. Not so much anymore. I recently viewed a program entitled Hangar 18: The UFO Warehouse, based on personal accounts and observations from those stationed at or near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. This program ended with me feeling like I lied in a previous post. Bible Code II is no longer the most credulous show I have seen. It at least had a token skeptic or two. Not so for Hangar 18. Every person on the show bought into the UFO mythology completely. The evidence presented was entirely "eye-witness" accounts of things people saw, and these usually seem to be of the " I saw in a dark hangar a disk-shaped craft while passing by" sort. This program seems put together by true-believers in an attempt to legitimize themselves and to bring UFO-logy back to the forefront.

On a similar, but more rational, note: the National Geographic Channel aired Is It Real: UFOs a couple nights later. This program addressed the 4 types of close encounters.
1st - UFO Sightings
2nd - Generally crop circles
3rd - Alien meetings
4th - Alien Abduction/Probing
For each encounter, NatGeo (as they are selling themselves now) interviewed believers and summarized their evidence, then talked with skeptics/scientists who explained what phenomena was actually observed. Of particular interest was their diagnosis explaining alien abduction/probing in relation to sleep paralysis. This program I would highly recommend watching. The program explains things well, includes both sides of belief, and summarizes the evidence in the end while encouraging the viewed to draw their own conclusions. My opinion, 5 star viewing here.