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Some of these are interesting. Turn off the slide show and advance the the pics manually so you have time to read the captions.
Creepiest photo: number twelve. (At least that's my vote.)
Do I think these are genuine? I imagine that some are. Others are probably hoaxes or, in a couple of cases, tricks of the light.
As far as hoaxes go, the Boothill Cemetery shot looks especially suspicious to me.
Fun stuff, anyway, and presented without the media's usual snark.
I originally posted these thoughts in the comments thread of the blog Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature, where they didn't get much notice. Since I like this little essay, I'm reproducing it here, slightly augmented with some notes in square brackets, with a few links put in for people who want citations on particular points.
Twenty years ago (or more) I was a big Rand fan. Since then my outlook has changed entirely, but I still find it interesting to look at Rand's ideas and where I think they went wrong.
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In an essay that originally appeared in The Ayn Rand Letter, Rand speculated that the so-called anticonceptual mentality might literally be the missing link in human evolution. (This essay was titled either "The Anti-Conceptual Mentality" or "The Missing Link," as I recall. It was reprinted in one of her collections, probably posthumously.)
[The anticonceptual mentality was Rand's characterization of people who think only in terms of concretes, rather than abstractions.]
What is worrisome about this notion is that, if accepted, it would entitle Objectivists to classify anyone who is "anticonceptual" as nonhuman or subhuman. I happen to think that this was Rand's actual opinion. Although she never came right out and said it, it is strongly implied throughout her writings. Just look at all her pejorative references to irrationalists as subhumans, savages, cavemen, etc. It is also implied in her habitual reliance on the term "man qua man," a phrase denoting the rational, conceptual-mentality man, as opposed to the irrationalist, who is presumably not "man qua man," i.e., not really man at all. (Bear in mind that an irrationalist in Rand's terms may be almost anyone who broadly rejects her system.)[Rand uses the term "man qua man" all the time. See this Wiki article, esp. the section "Values."]
Again, she did not state this view unambiguously, but I believe a close reading of her work will reveal it. Perhaps this explains why many Objectivists find it so easy to condemn their critics in language suggesting that they are not human ("insects, lice, animals, brutes, parasites," etc.). Perhaps it also explains why the Winston Tunnel disaster ends the way it does.[The Winston Tunnel disaster is a major scene in Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, in which hundreds of ordinary people perish in a railroad accident. The narrator makes the point that all of them deserved it, because each had sacrificed rationality in some way. The link above takes you to a long excerpt from the scene.]
If this was indeed Rand's view, then her biological argument for metaethics starts to make more sense. Rational man is literally a different species from irrational man, and therefore the requirements of his survival are qualitatively different from those of moochers, looters, second-handers, and other irrationalists.
But of course the downside of this view, besides the fact that it has no evident biological foundation, is that it divides the world into authentic human beings and counterfeit human beings, with the latter being disposable. Rand's stated views on American Indians fit neatly into this model. [See the comments as well in the last link.]Perhaps Whittaker Chambers caught a whiff of this idea when he famously wrote that on nearly every page Atlas Shrugged he could hear a narrator intone, "To a gas chamber - go!" After all, are subhumans entitled to human rights? Maybe human rights are reserved only for those who are "truly" human ...
I'm not trying to be snarky about this. I honestly believe that Rand's viewpoint ran along these lines, even if, for obvious reasons, she chose to present it only by implication.
On one of my meandering journeys across the intertubes, I came upon an interesting letter in defense of Uri Geller.
I have long suspected that Geller is the real deal, but that there is enough of the trickster in his personality to make him supplement his legitimate abilities with sleight of hand and other illusions. This would put him in the same category as Eusapia Palladino, who often cheated but would demonstrate legitimate PK abilities when pressed.
One thing that is certain is that the Geller controversy is far more complex than simplistic skeptical accounts would have us believe. The letter writer, Shauna Shapiro Jackson, makes the same point:
David Ian Salter's letter regarding Uri Geller infuriated me and compelled me to write my first-ever letter to an editor (Letters, Dec. 29). For Salter to make a blanket statement saying that "Geller has been conclusively debunked as a charlatan" and that "Geller is not psychic" is factually untrue and irresponsible. Slater's source is mainly James Randi, a man who made a career and plenty of money out of attempting to debunk people.
I have been a close, personal friend of Geller for the past 13 years. We met in 1993, when my husband and I distributed a film based on his life....
Randi's main assertion is that Geller swaps spoons by sleight of hand tricks. If that is so, how did he effortlessly bend my grandmother's very heavy silver spoon by gently rubbing it in front of my eyes? The Hebrew writing engraved on it made it impossible for him to switch spoons.
And how does a spoon that he gently caresses continue to bend once placed on the table or in your hands, with Geller out of the room? How does he telepathically duplicate a drawing that you have drawn, and almost every time, his drawing is the exact same size to the millimeter as your drawing? Or, better yet -- he has done reverse telepathy on me and members of my family, where he draws something first and then projects it into your mind, and you then draw the exact same picture.
He is a fascinating person, and I am among those who are willing to open my mind to the distinct possibility that he is for real. I also witnessed the big hand on the grandfather clock in my entry hall bend forward inside the glass, with Geller across the room, concentrating on bending it. It was nothing short of amazing.
There's more. Read the whole thing.
For my discussion of the SRI experiments on Geller, see this essay.
The Open Door by Theon Wright was published in 1970. It's the detailed record of experiments in automatic writing carried out by Wright's parents, Nella and George, and later by Theon's brother Stowell and by Theon himself. The unusual thing about these experiments is that little effort was made to obtain verifiable evidence of identity, the usual procedure in mediumship, particularly in the days when Wright's parents were at work. Instead, the focus was on obtaining wisdom, what the Wrights called the Philosophy of Self, essentially a version of nondualistic mysticism in which the development of one's higher Self contributes to the overall development of Cosmic Consciousness.
Most of the messages were attributed to a nameless entity whom the Wrights called the Master.* These were collected by the Wrights over a period of many years and later incorporated into a long autobiographical account written by Nella Wright in the last decades of her life. Her son Theon has augmented this account with additional background information and with his own experiments, as well as with opening and closing essays intended to place the work in a historical and philosophical context.
The book seems to have been almost entirely forgotten today. A Google search turns up only a handful of references, a couple of which come from this blog, courtesy of our frequent commenter William, who recommended the book. In a way, it's easy to see why the book didn't make more of a splash. There is no hard evidence for postmortem survival here -- at least nothing that would persuade anyone who is skeptical -- and the channeled material is considerably less detailed than than, say, the messages of Seth as received by Jane Roberts, or the writings of Stewart Edward White.
But there are good reasons to seek out a copy of The Open Door, which, though out of print, remains available through online retailers. For one thing, the sincerity of the Wrights shines through on every page. It would take a cynical soul indeed to imagine that this series of experiments, encompassing nearly a century, was carried out as some kind of elaborate hoax. Self-delusion, of course, is always a possibility, but it's impressive to see how the Wrights themselves frequently doubted the source of the information they were receiving and were constantly asking themselves if it simply bubbled up from their own subconscious. (Jane Roberts went through similar periods of self-doubt.) The Wrights, evidently a highly intelligent and intellectually curious couple, never took the messages at face value and were determined to maintain some objectivity about the process throughout. If anything, their doubts and reservations may strike the reader as a bit excessive.
Another interesting feature of the book is the way it weaves together the family's experiments in channeling with the other developments in their lives. The book serves as a fascinating memoir of life from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, and leaves one wondering how many other private communications are being attempted along these lines, even today.
Then there are the messages themselves. The material here may strike some readers as profound; others may dismiss it as puerile. This kind of extreme simplicity, which may seem wise or foolish depending on one's attitude, is a feature of many mystical writings. As an example, here's an excerpt from one message:
... you should value each experience for itself, and endeavor to feel the real and actual joy and pleasure that should be the accompanying factor in each day's experience. Do not look for the seemingly disagreeable facts of life, but emphasize the pleasant ones. So adjust your viewpoint that you will derive a maximum of happiness from every experience. Be ever patient, and strive for Peace and Contentment that is the sure test of a right adjustment and a proper outlook.
It is, after all, the big things that count for happiness, while only trifles and petty inconveniences give rise to the feeling of discontent, worry and annoyance.
Is this profoundly helpful advice or just an inconsequential bromide? From one point of view, "enjoy the moment" is a pretty obvious teaching. But whole books have been written about "being in the now," and the practice of mindfulness meditative exercises is intended to help us achieve this state of mind.
In another excerpt, the Master summarizes the metaphysics of the new philosophy:
My Children, Long ago I taught you to distinguish the Reality from the Appearance -- to look for the Cause back of all manifestational activity. But in no sense did I bid you separate them, for there can be no differences except of state or condition.
The Underlying Reality is that all pervading spiritual Essence that exists, of itself, without cause, containing within itself the possibilities of all experience. In action it gives rise to the phenomenon of Appearance, which is the corresponding entity in the physical or material plane being.
So to your ordinary senses as well as to your conscious mental processes, the phenomenon of Appearance seems to be the Reality, when it is in fact only the representation or concrete and specific expression of that which is back of everything, the Universal Self, the Oversoul, the Spiritual Presence that runs like the thread of a wonderful design through the fabric of the Cosmic Universe.
If, then, the material universe is this representation of a deeper and more fundamental Reality, it is not to be regarded as something in itself, apart from this Reality, and attempting to do so, you fall into error.
The things you see and hear and feel, all that you touch through the senses, have an actual existence in the physical plane, and therefore they must exist, not perhaps as you now know them, but still in reality they must exist on the other plane, as attributes, qualities or functions of the Spirit. This is the Law of their Correspondence.
Then when you shall cease to have a material body and be [word undecipherable] in your expression by the limitations of the physical and the boundaries of sense, the real Ego, or Soul, will be able to perceive more directly the Reality that lies behind all physical phenomena and to see with the eyes of the Spirit, hear with the ears of the Spirit, and to feel and know directly, apart from ordinary sense channels of communication.
It is difficult to convey to your minds any idea of the conditions on the other plane, simply because there are no conditions as you know them. You will see and hear and feel, only in the abstract, as we may now, while in the physical, see and hear and touch and smell mentally. For after all, the functions you call sensations are more psychic than physical, and serve to bring our soul in touch with and make it cognizant of this material environment.
So, Dear Friend, be assured that in ceasing to see material things you will only gain the reality to perceive more clearly the Reality that is before me.
Again, whether or not this is profound or trivial is a judgment that readers must reach on their own. One thing that struck me is the passing similarity to the Platonic idea of Forms (or Ideas) as spiritual equivalents of concrete, physical entities. Plato's theory was that every category of physical things has a perfect archetype existing in the realm of Forms. The idea here seems to be that each individual physical thing has some kind of corresponding spiritual analogue. One might also compare this teaching to the theory of a holographic universe, in which physical things are projections of an underlying nonphysical reality.
Regardless of the value that any particular reader assigns to the messages, there is no doubt that these communications were of great value to the Wrights themselves, assisting them in overcoming many tribulations and giving them courage in the face of considerable adversity. And this perhaps is the greatest lesson of The Open Door. It teaches us that getting in touch with higher powers -- whether they are untapped powers of our own subconscious or higher spiritual entities outside ourselves (and maybe this is a distinction without a difference, as Theon Wright seems to believe) -- can assist in our personal development and help us to find meaning and purpose in the otherwise baffling events of our lives.
The book concludes with the author's own experiments in automatic writing and with his firmly stated opinion that anyone, given patience and discipline and practice, can hone his intuition and obtain valuable insights. My own informal experiments in meditation have tended to bear this out. Rather than seeking the services of professional mediums and psychics, we might be better off developing our own latent abilities in these areas. That would certainly be one way to open the door.
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*I originally wrote that the entity called itself the Master. Thanks to William for pointing out this mistake.
I hadn't planned to post another entry in this rather unpopular series so soon, but when I saw the headline "Video: Collapse of Western civilization caught on tape," how could I resist?
Best comment from the above-linked page:
I guess this explains why they need to give birth control to eleven-year-olds in Maine.
The adultification of children by childish adults.
Indeed. And hey, check out those see-through panties for five-year-olds. When did pedophilia become the new national pastime?
Previously, I speculated that the waning of religious values has led to a cultural vacuum. There's probably some truth to this, but the more I look at it, the more I think that the real culprit in our cultural decline is the demise of any concept of personal responsibility. And the main villains may be the entertainment and advertising industries, which relentlessly appeal to the most narcissistic and irresponsible aspects of human nature.
The message of much of today's pop culture boils down to "if it feels good, do it; get yours and screw the other guy; only sex, wealth, and power are worth living for; only wimps fail to grab whatever they want when they want it; youth is king and maturity is for losers." Bombard the public with this message 24/7 throughout their lives (and especially in their formative years), and you've got a potent recipe for social disintegration.
I think it was William in comments who pointed out the destructive consequences of modern advertising, and I believe he's on to something, although TV shows, movies, music, etc. play a role as well. And let's not forget the fashion industry, who gave us those trendy "Future MILF" T-shirts for preschoolers.
A judge told a former soldier that he had plumbed the depths of degradation as he jailed him today for three years for urinating on a disabled woman as she lay dying.
Anthony Anderson, 27, appeared before Teesside Crown Court on a charge of outraging public decency for the way he treated Christine Lakinski, 50, a neighbour, when she collapsed in the street in Hartlepool last July.
Instead of going to her aid, he kicked her in the foot, poured a bowl of water over her and then urinated over her prone body as a friend captured the image on his mobile phone ....
Anderson also covered her in shaving foam which he got from his home....
Paramedics arrived around an hour after she collapsed, and found no sign of life. A post-mortem examination revealed she died from pancreatic failure ....
Outside the court the family said in a statement: “... The fact that Christine was dying makes this man’s actions even more sick and inhumane.
“However, those who stood by and did nothing to stop Anderson are also guilty in our eyes. It beggars belief that these people chose not only to condone his cruelty, but also to walk away from a neighbour who was clearly in distress and needed help."
Stupidest "science" article ever.
Really. Ever.
Greg Taylor, whose Web site The Daily Grail has sent many eyeballs my way (I keep them in a jar in my fridge), now has an anthology out. Yes, that's right, an old-fashioned, dead-tree, printed book.
A more affordable quality paperback edition will soon follow, but for now what's being offered is a rather pricey ($40) hardback collector's edition.
Here's what the Daily Grail has to say:
The collector's edition of the new Daily Grail anthology, Darklore Volume 1, is now available for purchasing from Amazon US and Amazon UK. Remember, there are only 66 copies of this hardcover collector's edition, so if you want a copy get in fast (I know already of 3 book collectors who have asked for a copy, which probably shows that the value of the collector's edition will only ever increase). Considering that purchasing Darklore also helps support future operations of the Daily Grail, and numerous other researchers and writers (such as Robert Schoch, Nick Redfern, Loren Coleman, Michael Prescott, Picknett and Prince and many more), and that the book is a great read to boot, it's a win-win situation for everyone.
Please note that the shipping time of 4-6 weeks on Amazon.com (1-2 weeks on UK) is likely incorrect - this is due to it being a new book, with no copies in the distributor's warehouse (and therefore not in their computer system). Once the first order is processed by the distributor, this will probably drop to 1 or 2 days.
Let's hope so, because I'm getting a little tired of this 4-6 weeks business, which also held true for Chris Carter's book. C'mon, Amazon, get with the program.
My essay "The Dark Side of the Paranormal" leads off the collection. Full disclosure: this essay was originally a Web article and is still available online. But many - I think most - of the other essays in the volume are new and are not available elsewhere. The design of the book is very nice, and though I have only skimmed the content, it looks highly intriguing.
I wish Greg a lot of luck with this bold venture into the baffling world of publishing.
Mildly interesting poll results here. Roughly half the public believes in ESP, with a higher percentage of the believers found among more educated people.
Those who find credibility in ESP are more likely to be better educated and white — 51 percent of college graduates compared to 37 percent with a high school diploma or less ...
Overall, the 48 percent who accept ESP is less than the 66 percent who gave that answer to a similar 1996 Newsweek question.
I don't know any reason why there would be a drop. Chalk it up to the vagaries of polling, probably. It's hardly an exact science.
The same poll finds that 34% of Americans believe in ghosts, and 23% feel "they have actually seen a ghost or believe they have been in one's presence, with the most likely candidates for such visits including single people, Catholics and those who never attend religious services. By 31 percent to 18 percent, more liberals than conservatives report seeing a specter."
34% "believe in unidentified flying objects" - an odd way of putting it, since any flying object that is unidentified is a UFO by definition. I assume people who answered yes to this question meant they believe there is something otherworldly about UFOs - either that they are extraterrestrial spacecraft or some sort of paranormal manifestations.
The article is snarky and tied in with Halloween, of course, and somehow it manages to imply that ESP belongs in the same category of belief with superstitions about four-leaf clovers. Why be snarky about ESP, which has strong experimental support and is accepted by 48% of the public, including a majority of college-educated persons? Is it just the cynicism of news reporters? Is it a conspiracy to discredit psi?
No, I think it mainly has to do with the liminal or borderline nature of psi phenomena, as George Hansen makes clear in his book The Trickster and the Paranormal. Paranormal events have been taboo in nearly every society, and they continue to be taboo in ours. One mark of their taboo status is that they can be discussed in polite company only with a wink and a nod. Another is that they get major news coverage only in the context of a children's holiday like Halloween. Another is that psi phenomena are lumped in with traditional superstitions about walking under ladders or breaking mirrors - which are also "liminal" beliefs (though without any scientific basis, as far as I know).
Still, even in these conditions, half the country accepts ESP. That's kind of cool, don't you think?
I don't know what to make of this news story about a "haunted swing" in an Argentina playground. Sounds absurd, yet if you watch the video, it's somewhat unsettling to see the unoccupied swing begin to move by itself and then go higher and higher, continuing for the two minutes of the video.
Could it be faked? Sure, but the news article claims that police and physics professors have already investigated it.
Look at the video and see for yourself.
Hat tip: Ace of Spades, where the commenters offer a variety of explanations and opinions, such as:
Harmonic resonance from a nearby road or building. Freaky but not hard to explain.
I suspect a magnet buried in the sand under the swing. At the beginning you can see the two swings to the sides being affected to move inward and then outward.
Simple physics. The frame resonates after the women gets off causing the center swing to start moving. The top bar of the swing vibrates a small amount but the amplitude of the vibration is greatest in the center. These tiny vibrations build up causing the center swing to move.
It's someone with a thread attached to the closet side of the swing. Watch the way it moves. Very easy to do with a black thread of piece of thin nylon.
Word: there are no ghosts. They are a myth. No Santa Claus either.
All they did was twist the chains in two different directions so that each pulls and twists the swing until the other twisted chain causes a reverse motion.
My grandmother's house was haunted. The ghost liked to hang out near a hole in the floor in the attic that, if you stepped into it, would land you at the bottom of the stairs (it was used as closet space, and due to the slope of the roof it made more sense to leave the hole open with a clothes rack at the top, and have full-length dresses hang down below floor level). When it was seen, it would back into the hole and disappear. Completely freaked my mom's ex out, she thought I was standing near the hole in the middle of the night and told me to go back to bed, then woke me up with her screams when she thought I fell down the hole.
