dimland radio 9-22-12 show notes

A Drop By The Corrections Department

Ok, so I goofed last week.  So, I kept calling Lt. Uhura "Uhuroo."  So, I'm human.

Vincent And The Doctor

A moment I wish could be made real.

My son has been rewatching Doctor Who lately and earlier in the day he watched the Matt Smith Doctor episode entitled 'Vincent and the Doctor.'  Most of the episode is a monster chase with some excellent shots recreating the settings of some of the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh.  It was an otherwise average story, but it elevated to greatness when the Doctor, being a time traveler, was able to do something special for the tormented artist.  In a chills producing moment, Van Gogh was able to hear the praise he never received in his lifetime.  Spoilers, sorry.

Jesus Said, "My Wife"

So, some scrap of old papyrus with ancient Coptic writing on it was translated to read that Jesus uttered the words, "My wife" to his followers.  Apparently, this is a controversial notion that has some folks who believe the Bible, which is also based on ancient writings, acting skeptically.  Really?  Some ancient text suggests something they don't accept and they're skeptics, but had it reenforced the loaves and fishes story, for instance, how skeptical do you think they'd be about that?  Oh, the irony!

Here's more on this story.

The 5%

I read a Facebook post written by fellow ZTalker, Joe Couto.  Joe was having a thoughtful moment the other day.  He suggested that when paranormal "investigators" have an experience they can't readily explain they should pause and give some thought to what might actually have happened before posting on the internet.  I applaud Joe's thinking and am glad he advocates thinking first and posting later, even if that thinking might be less critical than I would like.

Joe's post got my friend and follow skeptic, Chris Brown, and me talking about what we call the 5%.  That's the small percentage of paranormal claims that don't seem to have a natural explanation to which believers in the paranormal cling.  They hope for the elusive proof to be found in that 5%, but skeptics look at that 5% as what it is - unexplained.

Talk About Hubris!

There!  Fixed it.

Hubris, thy name is Cecilia Gimenez.  Who is that?  She's the elderly woman who thought she could repair the fresco depicting Jesus (see above).  Yeah!  Her!  Well, as if it wasn't hubris enough to do the initial act, when the church started bringing in money from tourists eager to see her handiwork, she's decided she wants a piece of the action.  Sure, she wants it for charity, but still.  Hubris!

Read more about this here.

My The Voice Moment

As this unrest in the Middle East and in other corners of the Muslim world over a poorly produced film continues, I said I would like to hear a voice from the Muslim world speaking out against the insanity of burning flags, embassies, and killing innocents.  Well, I found one.  I like what he has to say.

Watch this young Muslim scholar's take on the uproar here.

 

Movie Recommendation: Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979)

Homemade Films

This 1979 film was controversial in its day.  There were protests, calls for boycotts, debates, and a general feeling of being insulted, but no buildings were burned, no one was killed, and none of the Pythoners needed to go into hiding.  Interesting, isn't it?  And the film is brilliant and very funny to boot. 

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Ivo' by Cocteau Twins & 'Subdivisons' by Rush
Second ad break bumpers: 'New Day Rising' by Husker Du & 'Love At First Sight' by XTC
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 4-10-10 show notes

I had my first guest ever! It was Christy Necaise. Christy is the founder of the International Community For Paranormal Investigation & Research. She educates her investigators in the importance of being skeptical and how best to evaluate evidence. Christy also co-hosts a few programs on the Z Talk Radio network. Currently they include Paradigm Shift, Ghost Tech and Omni Fringe Radio, with two more shows on the horizon.

We talked about confirmation bias

I was impressed to hear that Christy uses the Skeptic's Dictionary website for one of her resources. It is a great website and there is also a book version you can get.

www.skepdic.com

The book version is available at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Skeptics-Dictionary-Collection-Deceptions-Dangerous/dp/0471272426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271014469&sr=8-1

Orbs and pareidolia

Christy talked about how orbs can happen in photography. She believes orbs are almost never pictures of ghosts. ( I would just say never, but that's me.) We also talked about pareidolia and how it is important for her investigators to be very aware of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Azeztulite/Pics%20to%20analyze/IMG_2939.jpg

http://icpir.org/photogallery/Vulture-Mine-Investigation

Extra innings

Christy and I enjoyed are conversation so much, we went a half hour past the time my show normally ends. We had the luxury of doing so because there is no live programming following my show. But Z Talk Radio will being playing old time radio programs following my show. That is cool! I dig those old shows. I hope they can get The Shadow.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' by The Police & 'The Queen Of Eyes' by The Soft Boys
Second ad break bumpers: 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)' by Kate Bush & 'Brainiac's Daughter' by The Dukes of Stratosphear
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next week for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com You can also download my show from the Z Talk On Demand page.

the thing about EVP

In 1980 the film ‘The Changeling’ was released by MGM. It is a pretty effective ghost/haunted house/mystery movie starring the great George C. Scott. As the film openings we see Scott’s character, John Russell, suffer an incredible tragedy. The story then continues four months later as Russell gets back to living his life.

He moves to Seattle where he takes a job as a college music professor. Russell leases an old historical mansion which is waaay more house than one man needs, but makes for a more haunting setting than a little bungalow. Soon after taking residence, he begins to experience ghostly activity.

Of course, he’s skeptical at first, but before long he enlists the assistance of a psychic. The medium and her husband arrive and set out to see if they can identify who is haunting the house and what it is the ghost wants.

A séance is held.

The psychic goes into a trance and does what I think is called dissociative writing. She asks questions of the ghost as she runs a pencil over a pile of paper. Whenever she receives an answer, which only she can hear, she writes it down and her husband reads it to the others present at the séance.

Thrills and chills ensue.

The séance ended, everyone has gone, leaving John Russell alone in the big, old house. (Unless you count the ghost.) The séance was tape recorded, so he decides to listen to what happened. To his astonishment, he hears the voice of a child answering the medium’s questions! The answers all correspond with what the psychic wrote while in her trance, only no one else had heard the answers.

The voice is as clear as can be. The film leaves no doubt that somehow a reel-to-reel tape recorder can pick up voices from beyond the grave. It is a movie, so anything is possible. However, the real world is something altogether different.

Why this mini movie review? It gives me the opportunity to make a skeptical observation on Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). As I said the real world is different than the movies. The recorded ghost voice in ‘The Changeling’ is what real world paranormal enthusiasts would consider an example of Class A EVP.

From the admittedly small amount of research I’ve done, the vast majority of EVP examples I found are nowhere near as clear as in the movies. More often than not they are in the ear of the beholder. The examples I’ve found all tend to be described as though they were right out of ‘The Changeling’, but they don’t play that way.

(I must say that in my research I did find one EVP example that sounded clear. It sounded as though someone, in this world, spoke in a low voice into the recorder. I guess this is a bit of a catch 22 for the paranormal folks. Skeptics require clear evidence, but, the clearer the photograph or voice, the more likely it will be considered a hoax. I know that’s not fair, but we only have the presenter’s word that no one else was present to make that ghostly voice. And there is the fact that that particular EVP hasn’t made headlines and it remains tucked away on one of the thousands of paranormal websites.)

Last September, I appeared on Scotty Robert’s internet radio program, “Dead Reckoning”. Scotty is a dear friend of mine who can hardly be considered a skeptic. He reads tarot, hunts ghosts, speaks at paranormal events and hosts that internet radio show on politics and the paranormal and whatever else comes to his mind. He has me on periodically to add a skeptical perspective. We do our usual round and round on science, skepticism, and the paranormal.

During my September visit, my friend mentioned EVP he and his team of investigators had recorded. He talked about one in particular of the several he claimed to have captured of a singularly foul-mouthed “spirit”. The “spirit” told Scotty and his fellow investigator, “F--- you both!” when asked to turn on a flashlight. Of course, they didn’t hear the voice until they played back the tape.

During that show, Scotty described the vulgar EVP just the way I described that scene from ‘The Changeling’. Then, 10 minutes later, he played the clip. It was laughable. All one can hear for sure was some low gurgling sound. It was nothing like the profane statement Scotty claimed. My reaction was, “That was so convincing!” I was being sarcastic.

As a skeptic, I require much better evidence then some scratchy static or some low gurgling sounds to convince me of ghosts or angels or demons, etc. These real world EVPs are not like those from Hollywood. They are far too subjective and prone to suggestion to be considered convincing evidence of anything but wishful thinking.

Remember: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.