It’s A Ghost! Nope, It’s Just A Bug
Thanks to the Skeptical Viewer site, I came across another video on youtube that some people believe has a ghost in it. Here’s the local (I presume) news report on the matter. The video is from a surveillance camera in the Asheville High School in NC, captured on August 1, 2008. Here’s another report on youtube of it, this one from CNN. And lastly, right here is the video of just the “ghostly” images.
If all this seems familiar, then right you are. This report is of the “blue gas station ghost” footage. The “ghost” was captured by a security camera at a gas station in Parma Ohio in November 2007. Here’s Captain Disillusion’s debunking of this video.
Before both of those took place however, there was the Santa Fe “Courthouse Ghost”, also caught on a security cam. This one was captured on June 15, 2007.
So just what is going on? Why are ghosts suddenly targeting security cameras in various places around the U.S.?
Are they bored? Are they finally trying to make contact with the living world? Or are they just lonely?
What if what’s captured on these videos aren’t ghosts at all? I know that’s the conclusion some people, like the paranormal “expert” in the first Asheville video, automatically jump to but there’s a much simpler explanation: insects crawling on or flying near the lens.
I know it’s not nearly as exciting as catching an apparition on tape, but all natural explanations should be considered and tested (if possible) before one concludes something is paranormal. That title (or simply unexplained) should be reserved for evidence that defies all attempts to debunk it. Are you listening, Ghost Hunters? That isn’t what happens though. Instead, tremendous leaps of logic are made, the existence of something unproven is assumed to be fact, and people come to conclusions based on what they believe (that unproven assumption) instead of actual facts and seemingly without giving the alternative explanations serious thought.
The media isn’t any help either. Of course they would rather it be a ghost instead of something simpler. They don’t even try to provide any natural explanations, much less do an actual investigation to see if they could reproduce what’s in the video. They too act as if the existence of ghosts were proven beyond all doubt and this flimsy piece of “evidence” is proof of them. So much for trying to get to the truth.
The next time a video like this pops up on the internet, think of these three incidents, and remember: the bugs are out there.
No Skeptical Sunday Today
There will not be a Skeptical Sunday entry today. I may wait until next Sunday or until after the Olympics are over to start it back up again.
Till then.
Skeptical Sunday: Moses Is Smarter Than God?
Numbers 14 has the Israelites in the wilderness, disheartened by the information they received in Numbers 13. The spies returned with the news that the land of Canaan had fortified cities, that the people there were stronger than the Israelites themselves, and that they saw giants. So the people lost faith and began to whine and complain… again.
Even after all the wonders God had done for them and shown them, they still rebelled against him.
I am a skeptical guy, but if I had seen those wonders for myself I wouldn’t have sweated the news. I would’ve known that I had one badass deity on my side that was gonna lay some serious smackdown on my enemies, just like he did before.
But did the Israelites believe that? Noooo. They were even ready select a new leader and hightail it back to Egypt.
Joshua and Caleb tried to tell the ingrates to chill and that they had nothing to fear because God was on their side.
So what did the rest of the people do? Did they listen to reason and have faith in the God who brought them out of Egypt?
Nope, they wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb.
So God showed up and had a chat with Moses about this wabble of wowdy webels. Needless to say, he was a wittle wattled. Yes, those are Life of Brian references.
11. Then the LORD said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
12. I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13. And Moses said to the LORD: “Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them,
14. and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, LORD, are among these people; that You, LORD, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
15. Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying,
16. ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’
17. And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying,
18. ‘The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’
19. Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
20. Then the LORD said: “I have pardoned, according to your word;
I don’t blame God for being peeved. But seriously, Moses had to point out the flaws in God’s thinking?? God needed Moses to tell him how his image would suffer if he did indeed strike the Israelites down with “the pestilence” ??
Wouldn’t an all-knowing God already be aware of such a thing? He’d know all the pros and cons that would take place from his actions, right?
So we are expected to believe that God is omniscient when a mere human outthought him? No matter how smart or wise Moses was, it couldn’t even begin to compare to the knowledge and wisdom a deity has. At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
God is said to be perfect, all-knowing. Instead, in this instance, God comes off looking like an impatient hothead with genocidal tendencies who needs a human to talk sense into him and Moses comes off looking more level-headed and smarter than God. It’s supposed to be exactly the opposite.
Oh, by the way, God pardoned the Israelites and didn’t smite them with pestilence after all. But he did condemn them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. That’s forgiveness for ya.
Maybe instead of getting all worked up, God should’ve looked on the bright side of eternal life. :)
Links
Skeptical Sunday: Jesus Is Not Coming Back
For almost two thousands years, some sects of Christianity have been predicting and believing that Jesus’ second coming is just around the corner.
In 1843, William Miller proclaimed that Jesus would return between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. When that prophecy failed, the date got pushed to April 18, 1844. And when that one also failed, the date got moved forward once more. The new date was October 22, 1844. That day came and went, and Jesus did not return. This became known as the Great Disappointment.
In 1988, Edgar C. Whisenant had 88 reasons why he thought the rapture would occur in that year. Like the Millerites over a century before him, he too kept pushing the date forward after his previous prophecy failed. It went all the way up to 1994, but clearly it did not happen then either.
Hal Lindsey also thought the second coming would be in the 1980′s. He was wrong too, but he’s still on TV and the internet, claiming that Jesus’ return will happen soon.
The list of second coming predictions continues. So does the list of people predicting that Jesus is coming back shortly: Jack Van Impe, John Hagee, Benny Hinn, Rod Parsley, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Many of these people and their predictions were obviously wrong. The current and future predictions most likely will be wrong also… and for a good reason. Jesus is supposed to have already returned. He said himself that he would return in the first century AD.
In Matthew 24 (and also in Mark 13 and Luke 21), Jesus’ disciples asked him what will be the sign of his coming and the end of the world? He told them not to be decieved by the many false Messiah’s to come and said there would be wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. False prophets would arise and decieve many. And a great tribulation, such as not seen since the beginning of the world would take place. The sun and the moon would darken, the stars would fall, and the powers of the heavens would be shaken. Then he would make his return.
He said all of this would happen, and then he said: Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
It seems pretty clear doesn’t it? Jesus tells his disciples that their generation will not pass until all of these things happen and his prophecy is fulfilled.
Since that didn’t happen, Jesus made a false prophecy and isn’t coming back. Case shut, right? Well, not entirely…
At least not according to some sects of Christianity.
In another case of saying that what the Bible clearly says isn’t what it means, they claim that when Jesus said this generation it was either referring to some far off generation, like ours, or that this generation actually means that Jewish people would not pass away until Jesus’ second coming.
This page makes the claim that Greek word for generation, genea, was used as a synonym of genos which means race, stock, nation, or people. Thus, Matthew 24:34 to them would say “This people shall not pass away until all these things are fulfilled.”
But, looking at this concordance shows that word used is in fact genea, thus indicating generation and not race, stock, nation, or people.
On the BibleStudy.org page I have linked above, they postulate that Jesus was likely speaking in Aramaic and when saying generation, used the word sharbeta, which could mean either generation or race in Aramaic. Naturally they go with the latter to prevent Jesus from being wrong and uttering a false prophecy.
But here’s why that doesn’t work either: Jesus was speaking directly to his disciples. To claim that, despite Jesus talking to his disciples and telling them about signs they themselves would see, what he was really talking about is an event sometime in the far future (especially 2000 years away), doesn’t make sense. His disciples wouldn’t be alive to see the signs he told them they would see, including his second coming in the clouds.
Jesus’ speech was specifically to his disciples. He addresses them in 14 verses in Matthew 24 using the words ye and you, like so:
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
The claim that Jesus meant some other, distant future continues to get weaker (as if it wasn’t already weak enough) when you read Matthew 16:28, which has Jesus again talking to his disciples. In it he says: Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Similar verses are in Mark 9:1 and Luke 9:27.
Apart from Jesus’ own words, what further complicates this nonsensical notion that this generation means sometime in the distant future are other verses in the New Testament which show that there was a widespread belief that the end was near back then.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
James 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
2 Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4. And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
2. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Revelation 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
It clearly was not the last days in the first century, nor is it now. Each generation, past and present, point to what they believe are signs of the end times. They point out natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, drought, epidemics, famine, etc., happening around the globe. Next they point to other events which they believe fulfill Biblical prophecies, then tie it all together and claim that the end times are upon us and Jesus’ return is just around the corner.
But each generation has one thing in common with the previous one: they were all wrong. This won’t stop future generations from doing the same thing as their predecessors, even though they will likely being wrong too. But believers will continue to predict and have faith that the end of the world is at hand and that Jesus’ return is imminent. And their belief is so strong that they will find some way to rationalize away the evidence and facts against this idea, and will continue to keep on believing, despite what the Bible clearly says to the contrary.
Links
The inspiration for this entry: Biblical Proof that Jesus is not Coming Again
Interpretation of Jesus’ and Paul’s prophecies about the end of the world
Skeptical Inquirer: The Second Coming of Jesus
Jesus Advises Vigilance – Analysis and Commentary of Mark 13:30-37
WE ARE STILL HERE and it’s déjà vu all over again! — This is an article by a pastor discussing all the failed end of the world prophecies.
Skeptical Sunday: Fundamentalism: Fatally Flawed
Skepticism definition #2: Doubt or unbelief with regard to a religion, esp. Christianity.
Each Sunday I am going to blog about something religion-related from my skeptical and atheistic viewpoint. It’s time to hear (read, actually) the nonbelievers viewpoint instead of letting Christians have the entire day for themselves.
Let’s start off with something from the Bible that is quite sick.
Imagine you are driving down the road, and when you go past the local church, the sign out front says this:
That would certainly grab your attention wouldn’t it? Hey! Focus on your driving before you cause an accident! And quit talking on your cell phone while you’re at it. Multitasking while driving is not a good thing.
Now, here’s what the Bible says:
18) “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them,
19) then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,
20) and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’
21) Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
I can understand disciplining one’s kids, but wow, talk about overdoing it! Violent much?
The parents lied also. They said he was a glutton and a drunk when it said nothing about him doing those things. All it says was that he was rebellious. Like the guy needed matters to be even worse??
So does this sick edict, among so many repulsive others given by Moses in Deuteronomy, come from a loving, just, and good God? Not a chance. Any loving, decent god would find such things disgusting and beneath him.
I think it’s safe to say that if your religion tells you to stone your own kids to death, it’s not sane, rational, and loving. At least parts of it certainly aren’t. It’s true, there’s some good stuff in the Bible, but too much of it is not good.
It is verses like these (and this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg) that present a problem for fundamentalists. If a Christian’s, or even a pastor’s son is rebellious, do you really think he is going to get all the elders of his community together to stone his son to death? Of course not. But since they believe the Bible is literal (it is meant to be taken as it is read — it isn’t allegory, parable or metaphor), then how do they that reconcile that belief with what they are told to do by the Bible which is obviously wrong? If you aren’t obeying God’s laws, then you are a sinner and you’re going to Hell unless you repent. Isn’t that how it works?
To get out of this predicament, they may take the usual apologist route and say that what the Bible says is not actually what it means. Or they may use old cop outs like “God’s ways are mysterious.” But when it comes down to it, you can’t have it both ways — if you’re a fundamentalist, either all of the Bible is inerrant and literal, or it isn’t.
Obviously I am not saying you should go about stoning people, much less your own family, because it’s wrong… duh. You don’t need the Bible as a moral guide to tell you that, because it tells you to do the opposite. My point is that Biblical/Christian fundamentalism is absurd, bankrupt, and like the title says, fatally flawed. To take all 66 books of the Bible literally is just nonsense in my opinion. And if you did take them literally and obeyed all the laws like a fundamentalist Christian is supposed to — utter obedience to God and all — you’d find yourself in jail or an asylum sooner rather than later for trying to stone someone.
Lastly, the whole concept of Biblical inerrancy (which is a part of fundamentalist Christianity) is sort of childish in its “logic.” The argument goes like so: God is perfect, therefore his revelation to man as contained in the Bible must be inerrant and perfect also.
Clearly, and in many ways, the Bible falls far short of being error-free and perfect.
Now for some external links, Wikipedia style.
External Links
Wikipedia: Fundamentalist Christianity
Wikipedia: Biblical literalism
The Errancy of Fundamentalism Disproves the God of the Bible
Haunted Hooey
I was watching Most Haunted Live on the Travel Channel earlier today, and I wasn’t impressed at all.
First of all, everything that took place were only claims of things happening to the people doing the “investigating,” by those very “investigators.” Where were the orbs, the indoor mist, the apparitions, the EVP’s and other paranormal phenomenon that I can see and hear for myself? They said they heard ghostly noises, but I didn’t hear them. Maybe I should’ve had the volume all the way up or something.
All I saw were people claiming to have paranormal experiences and that really seemed like bad acting. The cuts on the guy’s bodies were a nice touch, but I bet they got paid extra to let them do that to them, if it wasn’t fake blood and cuts that is.
They had webcams which some people watching the show at home claimed to had seen ghostly stuff on, but of course, they didn’t show any pictures of the paranormal things allegedly caught on them.
Honestly, it all felt really fake to me. And apparently, it felt that way for a good reason. It’s highly likely that it is all just done for entertainment, not to seriously investigate buildings and houses that are purportedly haunted, like it is claimed to be. Read the criticism section in the Most Haunted Wikipedia article and you’ll see what I mean. You can also view videos on youtube of the crew possibly faking evidence in this section.
I know this is TV and things are definitely not what they seem on it, but is it really too much to ask for a little honesty? If you claim to investigate ghosts, then I expect you to really be doing that. And if you aren’t, then at least have the deceny of being honest with the audience and telling them it’s all for their entertainment and not real.
At least the Most Farted spoof videos were funny.
Anyway, tonight I will be watching another paranormal investigation show, Ghost Hunters, live on the Sci Fi channel. Hopefully it will be better than the sham from across the pond.
Happy Halloween to you. Here, check out the history of Halloween, because facts are cool.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is June 6, 2006 — 6/6/06. To some religious people, that means that something bad is going to happen on that day because the date has three sixes in it.
According to an older version of Wikipedia’s entry on June 6 (scroll down to 2006), “some people also believe on this date the birth of the Anti-Christ will occur and that dark times will follow.”
Yeah.. sure. I don’t believe that anything bad is going to happen at all. In fact, I think it will just be another normal Tuesday — no supernatural stuff, no sky turning red, no Devil coming out of the ground and wreaking havoc, no Anti-Christ showing up, etc. and ad nauseam. And besides, as Wikipedia correctly points out, the number of the beast is 666, not 6606. In fact, the number of the beast may not even be three sixes at all, it may be 616.
So it looks like people are just going to have to wait for 6/6/6000. Then again, that has zeroes in it too, so that is probably out the window also.
Believing that something bad, in a Biblical sense, is going to happen on Tuesday assumes that the Book of Revelation is about supernatural and future events, both of which I do not believe. I think the writer of Revelation meant people with his numbers:
The hypothesis that 666 is a code for a Roman emperor seems to have some historical support. The emperors were noted for their oppression of both Jews and early Christians. Both communities were known to use numerology and codes where living under Roman rule to avoid persecution. (source)
And I believe that he was writing his book for his people in his time. Do you really think he was concerned with things 1900 years into the future, or in his own time? I’ll go with what makes more sense, the latter.
On a related subject, people also think that Jesus is coming back soon, but I don’t believe that either and here’s one reason why.
Anyway, enjoy the day, despite what numbers are associated with it and just say no.. to superstition!
Recommended Free Apps
I’ve recently downloaded some good freeware (in my opinion at least), so I thought I’d share the new finds along with some other good, free programs that I also recommend giving a try.
First up is one I highly recommend: Bulk Rename Utility. Here’s the description of it from the site:
Bulk Rename Utility is a utility which allows you to easily rename files and directories, based upon extemely flexible criteria. Add date-stamps, replace numbers, insert strings, convert case, add auto-numbers, process folders and subfolders….plus loads more!
Next up is Launcher.
Launcher is an easy-to-use personal shortcut manager that can launch all kinds of files and programs.
Text editor time! First up is Metapad which I used for awhile until I came across Win32Pad a couple of days ago. Metapad has some features that Win32Pad lacks, but they are both good apps. Meta and Win32 (pad!) are good for Notepad replacements, but if you want something for editing HTML and other code languages, I recommend Notepad++.
If only NP++ had an option to make URLs clickable like Meta and Win32 (pad!) does, NP++ would be even better.
Speaking of editing HTML, there is that HTML-Kit you might want to also check out.
And on the Win32Pad site, there are also some other apps you might find useful.
The next app is one for the weather buffs, Weather Watcher.
Now it is the audio software’s turn. I have two for you to check out: Audacity from SourceForge and WavePad.
Screenshot Captor is a good app for snapping shots of your screen.
MR Tech has some apps you might like, such as Systray which:
… is a swiss army knife of tools, tweaks and system options. It will not only let you quickly shut down, restart or log off from Windows, it can help keep your hard disk a little cleaner, organize your MP3 & Other Media files, edit MP3′s iD3 tags, sort text lines, log reboots and tune your system. Other features include: system-wide shortcut keys, an incredibly fast program uninstaller, a directory jump list, enhanced system information, save or print screenshot/window and more.
For blogging, there is w.bloggar which is available in IE and Mozilla (for Firefox) versions. Speaking of Firefox, if it hasn’t replaced IE for you, then what are you waiting for?
And for an FTP app, I recommend FileZilla.
I found out about most of these apps via MR Tech.com.
Of course there are many other good apps out there, so here’s some help in finding them.
Wikipedia has much help regarding text editors:
The list of text editors and the comparisons of those editors.
And for other software in general, check out Softpedia.
Later.
Paranormal Poppycock
Continuing the theme of “don’t believe everything you hear”, there are two famous paranormal stories that most people probably believe are true, but it is highly unlikely that they are.
I am talking about The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror.
Read the following articles, then make up your own mind.
Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense
The Haunted Boy: the Inspiration for the Exorcist (this is quite long and has five parts).
Snopes.com article about The Amityville Horror.
Don’t Get Fooled By “Psychics”
This is just a quickie. Here’s some stuff you need to know so you don’t get fooled by “psychics” like John Edward, Sylvia Browne, and many others who claim to have psychic abilities.
Check out this article first and then when you have time to read a longer article, read this one.
I know this sounds like a cliche and common sense, but people still do the opposite, so it needs to be said. Do not believe everything you read or hear and see on TV. Doubt and question stuff.
Anyway, after learning the techniques they use, you too could become a “psychic”.
